Jupiter High
by octavianistwerking
Summary: Mortal Jiper! AU. Just like those Goode High fics but with a California twist...
1. Prologue

**Hey, guys. I know there are a lot of Goode High stories out there, but since the Roman camp is so underrepresented, I decided to change things up a bit. Not sure how long this is one is going to be, but look for lots of updates in the future. Mostly Jiper, some Jeyna, Percabeth, Frazel, and a bunch of other non-canon pairings that may or may not manifest into anything...we'll see. Enjoy.**

Piper was in trouble. Big trouble.

She got in trouble a lot, sure, but she wasn't a bad kid by any stretch. Bad things just seemed to happen to her, and when those bad things happened, she was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Take Piper's latest "stunt" for instance; Jane, her father's evil assistant, claimed she'd stolen half of the jewelry inventory at Tiffany's. That wasn't necessarily true. It only looked that way from Jane's point of view.

Piper was really just trying to buy something nice for Jane's birthday. Since Jane was a shallow and materialistic person, Piper under the impression that a fancy, expensive piece of jewelry would actually make Jane like her, or at least give her a shred of respect. Piper was just about to leave when the clerk simply offered her a large bag full of all of the jewelry she'd looked at, free of charge.

Piper had to admit that it did seem kind of sketchy, but she thanked the clerk anyway and walked out of the store. Then, the alarms went off, the mall security came, and it went downhill from there. Now, Jane hated her more than ever for "tarnishing the public image" of her perfect father. This time, the courts said that Piper would have to undergo "serious disciplinary measures and scheduled therapy" or get arrested and put in jail for six months.

Today was Piper's intervention meeting. There was Jane, sitting next to Tristan, her arms folded, her furrowed eyebrows making her eyes look even more severe than usual. Then, there was Tristan McLean himself, who was shooting his daughter apologetic stares, even though Piper wasn't sure he meant them anymore. Finally, there was the new addition; Sally Jackson, a behavioral specialist from New York who dealt with specialized cases. Piper didn't like being referred to as a specialized case.

"Piper, I honestly don't know what to do with you anymore," Jane said, tapping her perfectly manicured nails against the glossy desk. "We've tried boarding school after boarding school, specialist after specialist. We're getting the same results. Maybe we ought to just throw you in jail. Maybe that'll knock some sense into you."

"Jane," Sally said severely, darting her bright blue eyes over to Tristan's assistant, "I think you should leave. There's no reason for you to make Piper more uncomfortable. It also isn't fair for you to condemn her repeatedly like this. In fact, I believe your unkind speech may be contributing to the problems that Piper is experiencing."

Jane disregarded Sally and turned her attention to Tristan. "Mr. McLean, I need to make arrangements for your daughter. It is very important that I am in this evaluation. Will you please explain that to Ms. Jackson?"

Tristan sighed. "Jane, maybe you could give us a few minutes alone. I'll let you know when I'm ready for you."

Jane looked angry but left anyway, closing the door forcefully behind her. As soon as the clicking of her heels diminished into silence, Sally let out a sigh of relief. "I thought I was going to have to fight her. That would have really sucked. I'd hate to get this new suit wrinkled."

Piper cracked a smile. She'd only known Sally for about five minutes, but she liked her already.

"What can we do?" Tristan asked. His voice was pleading. "We just want to do what's best for everyone, especially Piper."

Sally thought for a moment. "Well, I know my son's girlfriend lives in San Francisco. They have a very nice family, and she attends a great public school. His cousin attends that school as well. Her stepmother is my colleague, and if I can get in contact with her, she might be willing to take Piper in for a school year. Maybe a change of scenery would help her."

Tristan frowned. "I don't know. I wouldn't want to just push all of our problems onto another family like that." Piper felt offended. She knew she was the problem, but her dad was acting like she barely existed.

"I assure you, Mr. McLean, it would be no problem for them at all. Piper would even have a sisterly figure in her life, something I think would be good for her ongoing development. But, we can discuss other options. Like you said, you want to do what's best for everyone. However, in my professional opinion, I think this would be best."

Tristan nodded. "I trust your professional opinion, then. Please let me know if you can get in touch with your colleague."

As Sally left, Piper couldn't help but wonder if this time, things will really change or if she'd just screw everything up again. This was her last chance. If she blew it, things would really get bad.


	2. Chapter One

Piper's room back in Bel Air never seemed that large to her. Sure, it was probably bigger than the rooms of most kids her age (and it likely topped the rooms of other celebrity kids) but Piper just didn't think about the size much. She had one of the smallest bedrooms in the house, and she was barely ever there to enjoy it since Jane loved shipping her off to boarding school.

When Frederick Chase (who had an impressive collection of history artifacts) showed Piper her room in the attic, she almost laughed. Her closet was bigger than this. Even Jane, who Piper knew lived in a studio apartment, smirked aloud when she stepped in. "I can't imagine her staying in such a small space. She's been spoiled with a giant bedroom practically her whole life. Though I can't say I could imagine myself staying here either."

Frederick's wife, Marie, gave Jane an understanding smile. "His daughter Annabeth is the same way. Spoiled rotten as a child. She hardly ever leaves her room these days. She's such a loner." Judging by Marie's description of Frederick's daughter, Piper wondered if there was a reason for that.

"I like it," Piper said suddenly, earning a sour look from Jane. "It's cozy. And the window has a beautiful view."

"It certainly does," Marie agreed. "This used to be my sewing room. I enjoyed looking out the window. It was very soothing." Piper caught something of an angry look on Marie's face, but if she had blinked, she would have missed it.

"Our designers are going to renovate this into living quarters," Jane explained. "You will have to pay nothing for it, and if necessary, we put it back after she leaves." She paced around the room looking up and down the walls with fierce determination. "I'm thinking a modern tone with lots of angular lines, maybe some red or pink paint-"

"I hate pink," Piper spat, narrowing her eyes. "And you should probably consult the people who own the house about whatever you're going to do before you do it. Just because you have money doesn't mean you can do anything you want."

Jane pursed her lips but said nothing until they said their goodbyes and headed back to L.A.

"I can't believe you humiliated me like that," she snapped, her eyes ablaze with anger. "I can't wait until you're off my back. You're so selfish, you know? You think everything's about you. This isn't about you. It hardly ever is. I was hired to make your father look good, not to babysit you! Why can't you be like other celebrity kids?"

Piper tuned her out. She was used to Jane's temper tantrums by now. If there was one thing she wouldn't miss when she left for San Francisco, it would be her.

* * *

The room was awesome.

In fact, it was as if the designers completely ignored Jane's requests. Piper loved her fluffy comforter, the canary-yellow walls with white trim, the lace canopy that swallowed half of the room, the fairy lights strung everywhere and the beautiful vintage desk underneath the wide window. It was as close to a normal teenager's room as Piper could figure, and it was quite honestly the room she'd always dreamed of. Getting to stay here every night would certainly be a perk of the school year.

Piper probably would have stayed in her new room all evening if Marie hadn't called her down for dinner. Dinner was such an experience in itself. Marie cooked everything by herself, and it was all passed around the table, like in the movies. Bobby and Matthew had terrible table manners, and Annabeth...well, Piper couldn't get a read on her yet, but she seemed nice enough. Everyone in the family was so warm and welcoming. Except for Marie…

"Piper," she said after the meal, "You wouldn't mind doing the dishes this week, would you? I've got a big project at work tomorrow and I need to rest up." The way she said it sounded like a command more than a question. Even if she hadn't been forceful, Piper would have done it. She didn't want to be too much of a burden. Besides, regular kids did chores all of the time, right?

After doing the dishes, Piper trudged up the stairs to her bedroom and collapsed onto her soft mattress. She figured if the rest of the year was like this, it wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

Usually, Piper liked the first day of school. Her father (or in recent years, her father's chef) would make delicious pancakes and she would decorate them with whipped cream and sprinkles. Today, Piper woke up late, which earned her dishwashing duty for the rest of the week from Marie. Instead of fluffy pancakes, Piper got cold, burnt toast that she had to eat on her way out the door.

Luckily, Annabeth offered her a ride since she missed the bus. On their way to school, Annabeth and Piper had their first real conversation. Within that short time, Piper learned that Annabeth had straight A's last year, hated spiders and planned to go to MIT next year with her boyfriend, Percy Jackson. Piper was able to avoid any conversation about herself as well; just as Annabeth was asking about her life, they pulled up to a large brick building. The silver letters on the wall read 'Jupiter High School'.

"This is it," Annabeth said, pulling sharply into a free parking space. "The pursuit of unhappiness, also known as the public education system."

Piper was amazed. She's never seen a school this big that wasn't a college. Did high schoolers really go here? She checked her hair and made sure there weren't any loose strands on her blue sweater. It was almost the same color as her dad's favorite sheets, the ones that he'd let her use when she got sick. She tried not to think about her dad again and how much she missed him.

"So, you'll meet me back here at three?" Annabeth confirmed. "I don't like hanging around much after the bell, and trust me when I say you don't want to ride the bus. Unless you like hanging around freshmen and getting stuck in traffic." Piper shook her head."Three it is. See you then." Both girls got out of the car, Annabeth rushing forward to meet a girl with long dark hair who called her name.

Piper was alone.

Unlike the previous night's dinner, public school was nothing like the movie depictions; nobody flew through on a skateboard, no couples were making out on the steps, none of the teachers looked overly constipated or like they hated their jobs (well...maybe there were a few of those). Even though those were all high school cliches of the late 1990s/very early 2000s, Piper was still a little surprised that the cliche still held up even though none of the aspects seemed to be derived from real life.

But then again, her dad was in the movies. Nothing there seemed to be derived from real life either.

Piper's first class of the day happened to be Chemistry on the third floor. Jupiter High, according to the map, had seven levels, each level in varying states of disrepair or shiny renovation. Once she arrived at the class, Piper took a look around. There was still a desk in the very back that was empty. Piper hurried over to get the window seat. Someone sat next to her right after the warning bell, but she didn't pay much attention.

The teacher (whose hair strongly resembled a jumbled mess of black wiring) began to talk about how 'nobody gets an A in my class' and 'Chemistry will be important in your everyday life'. Piper was bored two minutes into the lecture and she began to stare out the window, hoping that the teacher would have an actual lesson for the next class.

The clouds had parted by then and the sun was shining brightly despite it being an unusually cool morning. Half of the class was already asleep, the other half engrossed in their phones under the desk. Piper glanced at the person who sat next to her earlier in the class to see if they were paying attention.

He wasn't paying attention. He was gorgeous.

The boy had to be at least six feet tall, but he was probably a few inches taller than that. He was muscular but not bulky with golden blond hair and eyes as blue, vast and mysterious as the sky outside. Piper had met some of the most sought-after men in the world, dined with the hottest teen stars in America as if it were an everyday occurrence, even received very questionable (and most likely hormone-fueled) letters from boys across the country. None of them appealed to her as much as this beautiful stranger did.

Piper hoped that these were permanent seats.

* * *

Even before the teacher started talking, Jason already knew this school year was going to be a disaster.

But this was the miserable life of Jason Grace after all. If something didn't go horribly, he would start to suspect something was actually wrong.

The day started off fairly well. Thalia had the day off, so she made him pancakes and took him to school. Since they were running a little late, Jason figured that he'd be able to avoid everyone, namely Reyna. He'd made it up the steps, into the school and past the attendance office (which, in the likely event of the earthquake, would probably be the first thing to topple), when he caught her gaze and she came over toward him.

"You didn't come over last night," Reyna said, looking angry. "You promised to help me get everything ready and then we were going to watch Sixteen Candles."

"I got busy," he said nonchalantly, instantly feeling guilty that he'd forgotten. "Sorry, Rey. I've got to get to class." He rushed into the crowd of students before she could protest. His first class of the day was Chemistry on the third floor. He made it in right after the warning bell and took the last available seat next to a girl in the back. She didn't seem to be interested in him. That was the nice thing about honors classes. No one cared that he was on the football team. All they cared about was their GPA.

Then the teacher started talking. Usually, Jason didn't like to make snap judgments about teachers until the first week was over, but he could already tell that this teacher was going to be boring and strict, a combination that was definitely not favored in his book. In fact, most of the other students seemed to have already tuned out of the lecture.

After 30 minutes, the teacher remembered that she hadn't taken attendance yet.

"Amanda."

"Ryan."

"Tucker."

Jason began to count how many people have gone after him.

"Emma."

"Arthur."

"Piper."

The girl next to him raised her hand, and Jason took a fleeting glance. At least he tried to.

Piper was stunning, but it almost looked like she was trying to detract attention from herself, even though it wasn't working. She had beautiful long brown hair that fell in soft curls to just below her shoulders, what might have been the perfect body and the most astonishing eyes that he'd ever seen; astonishing because he couldn't place the color. The longer he stared at them, the faster they seemed to change.

Sure, Reyna was beautiful and all, but he hadn't ever seen a girl as beautiful as Piper. Jason was positive that Piper was the definition of the perfect girl.

On the outside, of course. But what's on the inside is what counts.

The bell rang, and the students gathered their things. Jason didn't think he'd ever been this disappointed to leave a class that had been less than exciting.

As they were leaving, someone slammed into him. "Sorry," they said. He looked down to see who the perpetrator was, and it was Piper. Her apology was poetic, her voice more beautiful than a mockingbird's song. He wanted to hear her voice every second of every day, he wanted to leap across the hall, take her in his arms and kiss her for several hours.

But how often did people get what they really wanted?

Jason made it to his next class, Honors Geometry, early. Marcus and Nathan, his teammates and close friends, came in soon after. Those two, along with Dakota, were the only guys on the football team that Jason didn't hate with a passion. Marcus and Nathan were practically inseparable, and the two also seemed to maintain good grades in honors classes, something that the rest of the team did not do.

"My brother said McCall was a real drag last year," Marcus said, tossing his backpack onto the floor and kicking it under his desk. "I'm hoping I don't fall asleep on the first day." Jason nodded. "I had Chemistry last period and it was probably the worst class I've ever sat through." Marcus's eyes went wide with fear. "Who'd you get?" Jason shrugged, scanning the class for an empty seat that wasn't right next to the teacher's desk. "I don't know, don't care. I'm just looking to pass that class. I don't give two shits about the teacher."

Nathan raised his eyebrows. "Who's that? She must be new. We don't get girls like that around here." Jason glanced up and took a double take.

The girl Nathan was drooling over was Piper.

* * *

Piper had never enjoyed humiliating herself more.

After leaving Chemistry, she tripped over her shoelace and slammed right into Jason. He looked annoyed at first, but when he met her gaze, his eyes softened and Piper felt like her knees had turned to jelly. She wanted to stay there for just a few minutes more and stare into his lovely eyes, but the flow of hallway traffic wouldn't allow her to do so. Now, she was just looking forward to getting to her next class and hopefully getting a better teacher than the one she had before.

But getting to her next class proved to be a challenge in itself. Piper could barely make it to her locker to put away her new Chemistry book. The hallways were so narrow and packed full of students that trying to get anywhere was going to take you some serious elbowing and a little bit of shoving the freshmen into the lockers. At the old swanky private schools that Piper's dad sent her to, the hallways inside were wider than the freeways outside. Here, you'd be lucky if three kids could stand shoulder to shoulder with enough room to move. And the stairways were so crowded, Piper didn't think that seven minutes would leave anyone enough time to get from class to class, let alone from floor to floor.

Fortunately, she made it before the warning bell. All the seats in the back were taken, but there was an empty table in the middle. Nobody would notice her in the middle. As soon as she sat down, a trio of boys slid into the remaining seats. The one with dark hair seemed sort of cute and shy. The one with the dark eyes seemed energetic and extroverted. The one with the blonde hair was Jason.

Piper didn't really believe in fate or love at first sight, but this Jason character definitely fell in the 'special cases' category.

"Hey," Dark eyes said, grasping her hand and shaking it. "My name's Marcus, the one in front of you Jason, and the one on your left is Nathan. You're new here, aren't you?"

Piper nodded slowly. "I take it you're old here?"

Marcus laughed a little too hard. "She's funny! I like this one."

Jason shook his head. "You have a girlfriend. What would Leila say if she were here?" Piper wanted to hear Jason more than either of these two. Even though he had a small lisp, his voice was so soothing. She could imagine him giving her a lecture, reading her a book, talking all night on the phone with him...

Needless to say, Piper was very glad that nobody could see what she was thinking.

Marcus shrugged. "She's not here, is she?"

Piper held her hands up. "Oh, absolutely not. I don't do that kind of thing." Nathan breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. At least you've still got a shred of common sense." Piper wondered what that meant, but before she could inquire, the teacher stepped in and the room fell silent.

"I hope you like where you're sitting because these are your permanent seats!" Mrs. McCall all but slammed the door shut and stood in front the class in a threatening manner. "Welcome to my class. My rules are simple. Don't speak while I'm teaching unless spoken to, turn your homework in on time, and stay off of your phones. Your fake friends on the Internet can wait until my class is over." Her eyes scanned over the class like a hawk looking for its next victim.

After taking (or rather, barking) roll, Mrs. McCall assumed her original position. "We'll be doing worksheets for the first few days so that you all can get caught up to the pace of the class and, if need be, drop out. I expect this class to get a lot smaller. The sheets are in the back of the books, which are stacked on your tables. I also expect you to work, and not talk with your classmates. I suggest you hurry up and finish if you don't intend to have homework on your first day."

The worksheet was easy, but Piper pretended to work slowly so she could observe her three new deskmates. Why would they gang up on her like that? They couldn't all want to pursue her, right? What kind of school had Sally sent her to?

Marcus seemed nice enough, but a little too energetic, sort of like he'd had one too many cups of coffee and then eaten a bowl of sugar for breakfast. Jason was the complete opposite, so serene that she wondered if he was just naturally that calm or if he was just high. If that were the case, Marcus needed to have what he was having. Nathan was like neither boy; reserved and quiet but feisty through speech. Piper definitely wanted to learn more about him.

"So Piper, where are you from? What brings you to the hallowed halls of Jupiter High?" Marcus stared at her expectantly.

"Los Angeles," she replied flatly. "Hopefully I'll only be here for a year."

Marcus laughed. "Don't be that way. What have you really got back in L.A. anyway? One of those purse dogs? A cactus garden? A boyfriend?"

"No, no and no. Just...stuff. I don't think you would understand."

"You're right, he wouldn't understand," Nathan said. He's lived in the same house his entire life, same room, same race car bed-"

"I do not sleep in a race car bed," Marcus insisted, but color began to creep up his cheeks.

"You did," Jason protested. "From kindergarten until second grade, and everyone thought it was the coolest thing until all three of us jumped on it and it broke in half."

"Right, and then you cried through half a box of tissues?" Jason and Nathan started laughing, which earned them an angry look from Mrs. McCall. Marcus looked thoroughly humiliated.

"I hope you're both done embarrassing me," Marcus said angrily. "Anyway Piper, I'll be expecting you for lunch. It's impossible to miss us all. We sit in E hall, take two rights from here."

Piper furrowed her brow. "What if I don't want to sit with you?"

Marcus laughed. "I guess you could sit in the library for an hour. But you won't. See you then." The bell rang, and the trio got up and left her sitting there, dazed, confused and a little intrigued.


	3. Chapter Two

Nathan was already taken with Piper, and it hadn't even been a full school day.

All his life he'd been the tagalong in the group. Marcus was the funny one that everyone wanted to be around, Jason was the hot one that everyone wished they were dating, and Nathan was just Nathan. It was a miracle that he was still relevant.

But then, Piper showed up, and he'd been blown away. She was absolutely beautiful from the soft white eagle feathers braided into her chocolate brown hair to the splattered white vans on her feet. And she actually seemed to take an interest in him. Girls usually only took an interest in him after they'd looked at Jason and Marcus and even then there was a slim chance they'd glance in his direction. Not Piper. In fact, she seemed to be avoiding the gaze of Marcus and Jason. Especially Jason. It was a dream come true. It was almost too good to be true.

It was lunch and Nathan was headed to E Hall like always when someone slammed into him. He tried to keep his balance by holding onto the person's arm, but they were shorter than him and it just resulted in both of them toppling over.

After readjusting his glasses, Nathan glanced down to see who had fallen on him. He recognized the feathers and the shoes at once. It was Piper.

"I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, jumping off of him and helping him off of the floor. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are you okay?"

She nodded, picking up a crumpled piece of paper. It was a school map. "Do you know where the scheduling office is? I got a note last period saying that I had to go and talk to someone there, but I can't find it."

"You're on the wrong floor," Nathan said simply. "The only office on the first floor is attendance. All other offices are on the fifth floor. I can take you if you want."

Her multicolored eyes lit up with excitement. "Sure. That would be great."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Piper still hadn't shown up.

Jason figured she wouldn't. After all, Marcus practically told her into coming, and most people didn't like being forced to do things. Maybe she had gotten lost. Maybe she found someone else to sit with. Maybe she actually wanted to go to the library.

The odd thing was that Nathan hadn't shown up either. Lately, he'd been distant, especially after football camp started earlier in the summer. Nathan hadn't ever been very vocal with his feelings (or about anything else for that matter), but this just wasn't like him. One glance at Marcus and Jason knew that he was worried too.

Then, Nathan rounded the corner with Piper right beside him.

Since he and Reyna had been together for almost two years now (and he'd liked her long before then), Jason forgot what feeling jealous felt like. It was an awful sensation; the burn of anger and desire and the ache for someone that had never been yours in the first place. It was all he could do not to pick up Nathan and haul him out the window.

"Everyone, this is Piper," Nathan said, looking like he'd just won the lottery. "Piper, this is everyone." Automatically, Reyna slid into Jason's lap and wrapped his arms around her waist. She had always been the jealous type, though Jason couldn't say she had anyone to be jealous of. Until now, anyway.

The odd thing was, everyone seemed excited to meet her. The group was extremely tight-knit, and they hadn't had a newcomer in at least four years. But they all treated her like an old friend. Even Nico, Jason's paternal cousin, seemed to light up when Piper shook his hand. The only person who didn't regard her as a member of the family was Reyna, who was notably cold toward her. Piper seemed to take notice because she kept her distance after that.

The other odd thing was that Piper and Annabeth seemed to know each other. Jason knew that Annabeth went to summer camp in New York every year, so maybe it had been some crazy coincidence.

"Nathan seems to be hovering her," Reyna noted. "My guess is that he'll be proposing tomorrow."

Jason shook his head. "No, I doubt it. He's not the type of person to jump into things. He'll want to get to know her a little more."

A smile crossed Reyna's lips. "You'd be surprised."

Jason hoped she was wrong.

* * *

"Hey."

A girl with dark hair long enough to tuck into her waistband slid into the seat next to Piper.

"Hi." Piper narrowed her eyes. "Natalya, right? You're Annabeth's friend?" Natalya nodded. "I take it you're the girl who's dad shipped her away."

Piper blushed. "So you know?"

"Yep." Natalya began to put her hair up, using two hair ties to secure it. "Annabeth told me about it. She thinks it's kind of shady."

"It is kind of shady. I honestly don't know why this was the best option. Apparently, Annabeth's boyfriend's mom is our new crisis counselor."

Natalya smiled sadly. "Percy. He's a great kid. He's the best thing that ever happened to her. Really, he's the best thing that happened to any of us."

Piper was confused. "What do you mean?"

Natalya opened her mouth to speak, but she quickly closed it and got a far away look on her face. Piper could see the gears turning in her brain.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked again.

"This is all so coincidental," Natalya said quietly. "I think I'll save my story for a while."

* * *

So then I entered the competition, and somehow I made state finals!" Leo explained. Not even his highly advanced webcam (which he designed himself), could capture all of his rapid movements without lag.

"Congratulations, Leo!" Piper replied with a mouth full of popcorn. "So when are you going to Austin?"

"Labor day weekend. I know I was supposed to come see you in L.A., but since you're not in L.A. anymore I guess it worked out. I'm going to miss seeing the beach, though. The ladies were pretty fine last year!"

"Perv!" Piper exclaimed, tossing popcorn at the screen.

"I'm kidding!" Leo laughed, putting his hands up. "Sort of. Anyway, I've gotta go. Can we talk tomorrow, same time?"

"Sure. Love you, Leo."

"Love you too, Beauty Queen." The video cut off, leaving Piper alone once again.

Or so she thought.

"Annabeth! How long have you been here?"

Annabeth laughed, sinking into the armchair next to the desk. "Long enough to hear you say 'I love you'. You didn't mention a boyfriend."

Piper blinked. "Who, Leo? He's my best friend, not my boyfriend." Annabeth shrugged. "No, I guess not. He seems too hyper for you. I liked his ideas, though. They were amazing. I hope he wins that fair." Piper nodded in agreement. "His mom is looking for a job and they could use the money. Plus, he deserves it. He's been working hard on inventions for years. I know he's going to win."

Annabeth smiled. "That's awesome. But let's get down to business. What's going on between you and Nathan?"

Piper blushed and tried to hide it. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Annabeth gave her a knowing look. "Come on. He was hovering over you at lunch, he walked you to almost every class and he offered to show you around town. Which you ought to accept."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Come on, Annabeth. I just met the guy. I mean, he is pretty cute and he seems really nice, but for all I know he might cut off the heads of cats in the middle of the night. I want to at least know his last name before I start making commitments."

Annabeth nodded. "That's respectable. But you guys are going to make an amazing couple whenever you decide you're ready." Then, she grabbed a huge fistful of popcorn and said "Lewis."

"What?"

"Nathan Lewis. That's his last name."

Piper decided that Nathan was going to have to be the one to change his last name.

* * *

"I just don't see what the big deal is," Reyna said, resting her feet on the bed. "She's pretty, sure, and she seems nice enough, but she's just...average. And nobody knows why she's here. That's kind of weird, right?"

Jason shrugged. "Not really. You came here under some pretty sketchy circumstances yourself, so you're one to talk."

Reyna rolled her eyes. "That was different. I voluntarily told you what happened and you just didn't believe me. Piper's not volunteering information at all. In fact, it's almost as if she's trying to find out as much as she can about us. Do you think she's a spy?"

Jason sighed. "I'm sure Piper is a perfectly normal person with perfectly good intentions. Besides, she seemed really nice. I had a couple classes with her." Reyna frowned. "I saw you staring at her. You love her."

Jason laughed. "Reyna, I don't know her. We all know that love at first sight doesn't exist. Besides, I have you. I don't need anyone else."

"I can tell when you're lying, Jason." Reyna glared at her boyfriend. "I'm going to say this once. Don't talk to Piper, don't look at Piper, don't have anything to do with her, if that's what it's going to take. You two are not going to be friends. She's too much of a liability."

"Who are you to tell me who I can and can't talk to?"

"Your girlfriend, that's who!"

"Reyna, I don't know why you get so jealous, but it's without merit. You can't control my life like this. And if that's the way it's going to be from now on, then I'm not sure I want to be in this relationship anymore." Jason took his jacket and his keys and headed for the door.

"Wait!" Reyna cried, jumping up and putting herself between him and the door. "Just wait for a second."

"Why should I? Do you have another set of rules you want me to follow? What, I can't talk to Natalya now or something?"

"No," she said bitterly. "It's not like that. I'm just trying to protect you. You don't hear what the other girls say about you to my face. They're trying to take you away from me."

"Okay," Jason said slowly. "So you're saying you don't trust me enough to say no to someone who wants me to cheat on you? That's reassuring."

Reyna sighed. "Jason!"

"Well, you're not exactly making this easy!"

"I just don't want to lose you. You're the best thing that ever happened to me and I don't want our relationship to slip away."

"And it won't," Jason protested. "But you're going to have to trust me, Rey. I promise I won't do anything to hurt you, but you can't tell me who I can and can't talk to. I'm not a piece of property. I'm my own person."

Reyna slid her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Okay. I'll trust you. Thank you for forgiving me. I love you."

"I love you too," Jason replied. But he almost didn't know if he believed the words he was saying anymore


	4. Chapter Three

**Hey, guys!** **Sorry** **the update took forever, I rewrote this chapter about 3 times because I didn't really like the ideas I was putting down. It's not perfect by any means, but please enjoy! New updates coming soon!**

Piper was starting to warm up to the people in her new crowd of friends. It wasn't as small as it once appeared, and she became fast friends with Natalya, Annabeth, and Nathan. Marcus was still Marcus and Jason was a little distant, although he revealed himself to be a good lab partner in Chemistry. Reyna was also distant, but when Piper found out that they liked the same kind of music, she began to warm up to her.

Natalya always kept you on your toes and she was always on the move, never with a shortage of things to do. Piper learned that Natalya was Drill Team captain, president of Student Council and of the debate team, member of the chess club and well on her way to being valedictorian. Annabeth, on the other hand, was much less involved in school affairs. She was one of the smartest people Piper had ever met, second to only Leo. Annabeth seemed to really miss her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, too. She cried sometimes when she spoke of him and admitted she wanted to move back to New York so the two could be together.

Nathan was a different story altogether. He was still quiet and soft-spoken most of the time, but he was very animated if you were given the rare opportunity to strike up a real conversation with him. As far as looks went, he wasn't Jason, but definitely not far behind. Like Jason, he had a slim yet muscular build and both boys wore glasses (Nathan had thicker black frames while Jason's were a soft golden color), but the similarities ended there. Nathan was a few inches shorter, had dark hair and hazel eyes. And from what Piper could gather, Nathan didn't have a girlfriend. That was a real plus.

It was Wednesday now and everyone was looking forward to the first football game of the season on Friday night. Another thing Piper learned during her time here was that the football team had almost been undefeated last year and lost only during their last playoff game.

"So, are you coming to the game on Friday?" Nathan asked Piper during English. Piper shrugged. "Maybe. I know Annabeth is going, but I don't want to be a tagalong." Nathan shook his head. "You won't be a tagalong. I'm inviting you. Here, I'll give you one of my tags."

"What?"

Nathan reached into his bag and pulled out an engraved name tag with the number nine on it. "My tag. You wear it to the game to show who you're there for." He retracted his hand suddenly. "Unless you don't want to wear it. Now that I think about it, it's a silly thing anyway and-"

Piper snatched the tag from his hand. "It's not silly. I'd be honored to wear it. Thank you."

Nathan beamed. "So I guess this means you're coming to the game after all?"

* * *

Alright, boys! Bring it in!" Coach Miller called. The football players jogged over to the water cooler and stared at their coach expectantly.

"We've got a lot of college recruiters scheduled for this week, including people from Stanford, Texas Tech, UCLA, LSU and Notre Dame." Jason's ears perked up at the last college. It wasn't like Notre Dame hadn't visited Jupiter High for other players before but since he was a junior they'd actually be looking at him as a prospective player.

"If you plan to have a future, I expect you to do your best for these recruiters. They come from some great programs and trust me when I say you want to be part of one. I expect nothing less than a winning game from you all. Now, hit the showers."

"So, who do you want to play for?" Jason asked Marcus as they were heading inside.

Marcus shrugged. "I'll wait until all the recruiters come before I make my decision. But I don't know if I want to play college ball."

Jason blanched. "What are you going to do, then?"

"I kind of want to become an accountant. Maybe a data analyst. I can go to a college online for that and stay home." He laughed bitterly. "I mean, let's face it. My grades aren't that great, and I don't want to be tied down with a football scholarship and regret it later."

"Marcus, you're terrible at math."

"You're right. But not statistics. I got an A last year."

Jason shook his head. "I can't believe you're really thinking about doing this."

"Neither can I," Marcus replied. "But what's life worth if you don't take risks?"

* * *

Annabeth loved Thursdays. As a 7th hour administrative aide, she was usually holed up in the back office copying papers while Nathan did the deliveries. But not on Thursdays.

For one day a week, Annabeth and Nathan got to go to the library and organize the books. Since the library was one of the least frequented areas in all of Jupiter High, the two got to recline in the overstuffed armchairs and eat chocolate chip cookies baked fresh by the librarian for the entire hour. Plus, Annabeth loved being in the library. The neat and orderly rows of books, the dark wooden tables, the old, dusty computers placed along the walls with beautiful works of art from the advanced art classes. It was beautiful and serene. If she could, Annabeth would pitch a tent right in the middle of the vast room and stay for the rest of her life.

"Can I ask you a question?" Nathan inquired, wiping away a milk mustache with the back of his sleeve and brushing cookie crumbs off of the book he was reading.

"Sure, anything."

"What do you know about Piper?" Nathan suddenly blushed. "I...I just want to know for a friend."

"Nathan, calm down." Annabeth reclined in the armchair and took another cookie. "She's from L.A, she has a best friend named Leo, she really likes popcorn and she seems to be living with me because she did something wrong or upset her dad or something like that. Sally won't tell me what it is, though."

"And?" Nathan gestured for her to keep going.

"That's all I've got, kid. She's very secretive."

Nathan frowned. "I wonder what she's got to hide. It can't be that bad. Unless she really is a spy. Reyna seems to think she is."

"All things considered, Reyna isn't the best judge of character. She thinks everyone is always out to get her. Anyway, we all have secrets, right? I wouldn't bug her about it, though. Piper will tell us when she's ready. Annabeth shrugged. "Maybe she'll never be ready. I don't know."

Nathan nodded. "Okay. But you're sure that Leo guy is just her friend, right? Right?"

Annabeth sighed. "I should really stop talking to juniors."

* * *

"Mom's on another crash diet so we don't have a lot of soda, but aunt Cara made a big pitcher of sweet tea before she went back to Texas." Natalya rummaged around in the back of the fridge and pulled out a bright red can. "Score! I found a Tab!"

Bobby wrinkled his nose. "That can is probably older than you. I think I'll take my chances with the tea." He opened a cabinet and took a glass as easily as if he lived there himself. "You should check the expiration date."

Natalya turned the can upside down and narrowed her eyes. "October of '99. How are you always right about everything?"

"How could you leave that in there for such a long time? Don't you all ever clean out your fridge?" Bobby shook his head and took a big gulp of tea. "The sweet taste of victory."

Natalya tossed the Tab and reluctantly poured herself a glass of tea. "Loser."

"But you love me anyway."

"I'll love it when all of this tea is gone, so drink up." Natalya sat on the counter and faced her friend. "So, did you ever get a chance to meet that new girl? Piper?"

Bobby shook his head. "But she's the one living with Annabeth, right? I've heard a lot about her."

"Right. She's really nice, but I get the weird feeling that I know her from somewhere. Maybe she's a model?"

Bobby laughed sarcastically. "There's no way a model would end up at Jupiter High, better known as the crappiest school in California. Besides, they're all in L.A. anyway."

"That's my point!" Natalya exclaimed, waving her hands around. "She said she was from L.A. and Annabeth mentioned something about her dad shipping her away."

"Interesting."

"You know how that went the last time." Natalya didn't even have to mention a name. Bobby knew exactly who she was talking about.

"I'm surprised everyone seems to like her. She's all Nathan can talk about these days."

"Yeah, well Nathan's just excited that there's a female talking to him that's not one of us. He'll get over it. A girl like Piper would never consider a guy like Nathan. He's just so...Nathan."

Bobby sighed. "I guess there's no hope for me, then. I'm ten times worse than Nathan is, and he's at the top of the social ladder."

Natalya rested her hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Bobby. You're his friend, too. And you go out with girls all the time." Her voice held an angry undertone, but Bobby was too invested in his self-pity to notice.

"They don't mean anything. I haven't had a serious relationship since 8th grade."

"Nobody has serious relationships in 8th grade."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Way to lower my self-esteem. I guess there's always the college pool."

"Yeah," Natalya said quietly. "There's always other people."

* * *

"Knock knock," Jason said, peeking into Leila's room. For a girl who said she hated pink, it was extremely ironic that everything in the bedroom was a cotton candy-esque shade.

"Hey, Jason!" Leila said, packing down some soil and placing a succulent gently into a (surprise, surprise), pink pot. "Let me guess. You need help with your Chemistry homework. It's a real shame you got Roberts this year. She's the worst."

"Well, yes. But that's not exactly why I came. I need to talk to you about Marcus."

Leila frowned. "What's the matter with Marcus? Is he planning to get back into water polo or something?"

"No. Has he told you he's not planning to play college ball?"

"Oh. Of course, he has. What's the big deal?"

"What do you mean what's the big deal?" Jason cried. "The big deal is he's planning to throw his life away to be a fucking accountant!"

Leila sighed deeply. "Look, I know his plan seems ill-advised, but if this is what he wants to do, don't you think we should let him?"

"No, as a matter of fact. I don't think we should let him."

"Well, it's not up to you is it?"

Jason narrowed his eyes at her. "You had something to do with this, didn't you? You hated football before, and now look at what you've done."

"Jason," Leila said angrily, "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I think you should go. If you were really my friend, you wouldn't blame me for his decisions."

"If you were really his girlfriend," Jason shot back, "You wouldn't manipulate him like that."


	5. Chapter Four

"Well? Did you win?" Piper asked excitedly, crossing her legs and placing her big bowl of popcorn in the middle.

Leo hung his head. "I hope you're not angry with me."

Piper's face fell. "You've got to be kidding me!"

He nodded sadly. "I can't believe it. I worked so hard."

"The judges are the ones who should be sorry, Leo! Your project was amazing."

He glanced up and his face spread into an elfish smile. "I know, right? That's why I won!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "I really should have seen that one coming."

"You should have. I play that one on you at least twice a week. Anyway, we got the check in the mail yesterday. 50 grand and an all-expenses-paid trip to the International Engineering Fair in January."

"Congratulations, Leo. You deserve it. And you're going to win that engineering fair. I can feel it."

Leo looked skeptical. "It could just be the butter in the popcorn that you feel. You know people are getting addicted to that stuff these days?"

Piper shoved a big handful in her mouth. "Consider me a living example."

"But that isn't even the best part!" Leo exclaimed, changing the subject. "I got three tickets for the fair. So one for me, one for Mom and one for you."

Piper almost choked on her popcorn. "Me? You want me to come with you to the fair? Why?"

"Because you're my best friend and if you hadn't convinced me to enter the school fair I never would have won, which never would have led me to the state fair or the national fair or the international fair. I owe all of my success to you."

Piper felt tears pool in her eyes. "Leo. You're going to make me cry."

"I hope those are tears of joy. I also hope you'll say yes because I need to send in my confirmation tomorrow."

"Of course I'll go. Thank you for inviting me."

Leo grinned. "What are friends for?"

* * *

"I don't see what Jason's problem is," Marcus said. "It's not like I thought tossing plates out the window was such a good idea, but I didn't stop him from doing it."

Hazel shook her head. "That's different. He was drunk when he did that, and the worst that happened was a lecture from the cops. This is about your future. This is about what's going to define you for the rest of your life. You should be happy that Jason is concerned."

"Oh, so now you're siding with him?"

"I didn't say that," Hazel defended. "I'm not siding with anyone. At the end of the day, it's your decision, but you should listen to your close friends and see what they have to say. Besides, you still have a year to think about it. You're only a junior."

Marcus sighed. "Whatever. I have the game to think about today. College isn't the most important thing on my plate."

"That's the spirit!" Frank chimed in, propping his cast onto the table. "You guys are going to be great today. I'll be cheering on the bench."

"Sorry about your leg, man. I'm sure Octavian didn't mean to mow you over with his car."

"I'm sure he did," Frank mumbled, "I'm kind of hard to miss. But I'll live. The doctor said I can be back on the field in about two weeks."

"That's good. We need our best linebacker back on the field."

Frank blushed. "I think you're just saying that."

"I think I'm right."

"I agree," Hazel said. "We wouldn't have won last year without you."

"We didn't win last year. But that's not going to happen again, right?" The determination in Frank's eyes was unmistakable.

Marcus nodded. "They'll never know what hit 'em!"

* * *

Leila was not excited about going to the football game.

To start, the girls who attended the games seemed to think that it was a slut show. They wore shortest shorts, the tiniest dresses and carried the most expensive bags to do nothing but sit on the cold, hard bleachers for hours on end. Leila dressed up only to blend in with everyone else; being singled out for dressing down was much worse than following the crowd's flawed outfit choices.

Since this was the first football game of the season, the outfits the girls wore were completely abysmal, mostly to attract the attention of the football players at the various parties after the game and secure a mate for the next four or so months (or, in any case, secure a mate for the rest of the evening).

And that was where the next problem came into play: the girls didn't care if the player they were pursuing already had a girlfriend. This was Leila's predicament precisely, and it didn't help that she had a brainless boyfriend either. If girls asked to sit on Marcus's lap, he would let them. If they kissed him, he would let them. The worst part was that Marcus didn't see the error of his ways and when Leila confronted him about it (which was often), they ended up arguing and calling it quits. A few days later they'd be a couple again.

Thus, their tragic relationship stayed in a constant cycle. Leila often wondered if the relationship meant anything to either of them anymore. At this point, she really wanted to break up permanently, but she could never bring herself to do it. But it was nothing to concern herself over right now. She has better things to think about, like conservation projects, getting better SAT scores and keeping bugs out of her garden.

On that particular evening, Leila sat with Annabeth, Hazel, and the newcomer, Piper. As soon as she saw her, Leila disliked Piper. She looked like the type of girl who would turn her relationship with Marcus into a complete trainwreck. Then she started talking and Leila learned that she'd completely misjudged Piper. She radiated beauty from the inside and outside but she clearly didn't know she possessed it, thus making her extremely down to Earth, almost more than Leila herself.

The game started off well. The Jupiter Wolves were tearing the other team to shreds and they had a steady lead by halftime. Then, the third quarter came around. That's when things started to go downhill.

Marcus made a touchdown, which made one of the players on the other team very angry since he thought it should have been thrown out. After arguing with the ref, the boy decided to get revenge during the next play. As soon as the whistle was blown, he made a beeline for Marcus and steamrolled him. Marcus's helmet flew off and he went sliding into the bench on the other team's side of the field headfirst. Even from across the stadium, Leila could hear the sickening crack.

"There's blood!" Bobby yelled, motioning for the coach to come over. Someone else yelled something about calling 911. The player who tackled him was being hauled off of the field by a very red-faced coach. Marcus was curled up in a ball, otherwise motionless.

Leila's heart was still pounding. They'd broken up again earlier that day. What if her last words to Marcus had been words she'd regretted? Without thinking, she jumped over the rail and walked straight onto the field.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Annabeth screamed after her. "Get back here right now or so help me!"

Leila didn't listen. She kept going, walking past the bench, down the middle of the field, right to the other sideline.

"Miss, you're not allowed to be here," a team manager snapped, stepping in front of her. "Kindly return to the bleachers before I report you security."

"Move." Leila shoved past him and marched right up to the boy who tackled Marcus.

He gave her a once over and narrowed his eyes. "Sorry, babe. I'm all booked for tonight. But with a rack like yours, I think I might be able to fit you in next week."

"I'm not your babe," Leila retorted angrily, "I don't want to be fit in next week, and you might want to think twice before you tackle my boyfriend without a good reason."

Then, she punched him in the face. His nose made a satisfying crunch sound when her fist came in contact with it and he stumbled backward. There was a collective gasp from the bleachers. Then, silence.

Annabeth, who was enjoying watching the events play out much more than she was letting on, bunched her skirt up in her fists. "I hope this doesn't end in a fight."

"I think Leila can hold her own," Piper replied softly. "If I were the other guy, I'd be pretty scared right now.

The fight never happened. Security came and hauled Leila off of the field. The crowd burst into applause as she was carried away and the game continued.

The team won easily, even without Marcus. His injuries weren't as extensive as the players thought; in fact, he was able to walk back to the bench by himself. Leila was worried, but she'd been banned from re-entering the stadium for the rest of the game.

Before Leila and Marcus had been a couple she had always thought of football as a harsh game; essentially an organized bloodbath. But as the years went on and she studied the game in further detail, the finesse of the game was apparent. Underneath the brawling violence was calm, order and delicacy. It was interesting to watch the plays executed by both teams, even if Leila still didn't completely understand everything. Before she knew it, she was a regular season pass holder and her interests had branched to college and national football.

But it was a love-hate relationship. Disregarding her complete hatred of her own high school football games, football was still a very dangerous sport. If she had a son, she would never let him play, and she hated that her own brother, now playing football in college, had continued with the sport despite numerous potentially life-threatening injuries. That was part of the reason she'd been so supportive when Marcus had decided to stop playing football, get his grades up and go to college with something other than a football scholarship tying him down.

Leila didn't understand why Jason was so upset about it. In fact, she wanted to encourage him to do the same before they had their argument. Maybe Jason really liked football.

Reyna texted her a few minutes later, saying that there was a party at Dakota's house after the game and that she'd see her there. That wasn't surprising. There was always a party at Dakota's house, especially after football games. But she wasn't sure if she really wanted to go. Marcus would probably be there. Would he know what happened? Would he try to confront her? Why did she care so much?

Leila wandered to her car, stuck the key in the ignition and drove away. She didn't know where she was going and she didn't really care.

* * *

Piper was excited.

This was her first high school football game, and the rush of adrenaline she felt after the team won was one of the best sensations she'd ever experienced. She'd only been attending Jupiter High for a week, but it definitely was long enough to foster a lot of team spirit. That, and the fact that Nathan looked pretty nice in his uniform, even if he only kicked field goals.

As much as Piper liked Nathan (or, at least, as much as she thought she liked Nathan), there was still Jason, and he was still taken. Call it cliche, but there was something mysterious and intriguing about him. Every time he said something to her, even if it was as simple as asking the time, her heart raced so fast she thought it might burst. But the fact of the matter remained that Jason was Reyna's and it was obvious nothing was going to change that. And as much as she wanted to pursue him, she was determined not to be 'that' girl.

The rumors of what Reyna had said about her were enough to make her never want to look at Jason again. Reyna had assured her that everything was fake and that the entire school was a rumor mill, but Piper wasn't so sure.

After the game, Piper, Annabeth, and Hazel waited for the players to come out of the locker room, mostly because Frank was Hazel's ride and neither girl wanted to leave Hazel there by herself.

Piper had questioned Frank and Hazel's relationship the day before. Frank assured her that he and Hazel were best friends and nothing more, but it was obvious that a relationship was on the horizon.

Out of the sea of football players that all came out at once, Piper spotted Nathan and waved him over. When she hugged him, she recognized the scent immediately. Lever soap. It was the same soap her father used. She didn't want to let go, even when he began to pull away.

When Piper saw Nathan, she didn't get jittery. Instead of feeling like her heart was going to explode, it felt like someone had poured hot lava into her arteries. Her skin tingled wherever he touched her and her heart melted when he glanced in her direction. Was it possible to feel this was about two people at the same time?

It was obvious that Nathan was the better option. He was single, he seemed to like her and she knew that the relationship would work. But there was something in the back of her mind telling her that she was meant to be with Jason. Right now, though, she needed to forget about him.

"You did amazing," Piper said. "I'm really proud of you."

"I didn't think you would come," Nathan replied softly, "But I'm so happy you did."

* * *

Jason never wanted to talk to Nathan again.

The fact that Piper was wearing his number was enough to make him want to punch his lights out. Then, he'd hugged Piper right in front of him and Jason almost wanted to puke. Nathan really liked her, and it was likely he was going to get her.

Reyna was Jason's first and only crush until now. Lots of girls liked him, but he didn't feel the same way. Being with Reyna just felt like the right thing to do, and he hadn't ever had second thoughts about it. Sure, he'd been with Drew a lot, but it didn't mean anything. He and Drew had an agreement. They were strictly physical, no strings attached.

Then, Piper had shown up and he felt feelings that he'd never felt for Reyna. Piper has incomparable beauty, and she didn't even have to work for it. A girl with her beauty would presumptively have an ego to match it, but not Piper. She seemed completely oblivious to the fact that everyone within a five-mile radius of her wanted to pursue her.

Jason was ready for the party tonight. And he was ready to get drunk.

He jumped in his car (yet another expensive gift from his father to make up for abandoning him) and flew over to Dakota's house. He never seemed to get speeding tickets, despite the fact that he often did at least 60 on city streets. Cars just avoided him. Jason figured it was the expensive car.

Dakota's house looked bigger on the curb, but inside it was actually pretty cramped. Once Jason walked inside, the first two he saw were Dakota and Gwen, leaning on the staircase and having what looked to be an intense conversation. Dakota was holding a bottle of something red and Gwen's eyes were the size of dinner plates, so Jason left them alone and went straight to the kitchen. He wondered where Reyna was as he poured something into a red cup. He downed it in one gulp and lost his train of thought.

Turned out he'd poured himself a cup of water. Tossing the cup in the trash, he figured he'd try again later. Besides, the night was young and the party was just getting started.


	6. Chapter Five

**A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry this chapter took forever (again) but at least it's a longer one. School and band have been taking up a lot of my time lately, but hopefully I'll be able to update soon! Enjoy!**

* * *

"That was one hell of a fight you put up tonight!" Natalya exclaimed, leaning through Leila's car window. "I'm proud of you for standing up to that guy."

"Is Marcus there?" Leila blurted, her hands gripping the steering wheel so hard, her knuckles were white.

"Yeah, he's here. Do you want me to go get him for you?"

Leila shook her head vigorously. "No, absolutely not. I'm going home. Goodnight."

"Wait!" Natalya cried. "You can't avoid him forever, you know. I'm sure he knows by now."

Leila nodded. "You're right. But I sure as hell can avoid him tonight. Probably next week too." She tried to pull away again, but Natalya jumped behind the car before she could put it in gear.

"Just come in for a few minutes. Reyna made hot chocolate and there are brownies in the basement."

Leila rolled her eyes. "They're probably weed brownies."

Natalya grinned. "They're not. They taste too bad. Let's go!"

* * *

Nathan hated going to the parties.

But since he was on the football team, he had to make an appearance. Besides, Dakota was his friend and he'd been personally invited, although that didn't mean much. Dakota's house was the party house. Unless you were a freshman, you were expected, invitation or not.

Normally Nathan would play shuffleboard or cards with Bobby, Hank, and Jacob in the basement and drink whatever was in the cabinet, but Bobby had skipped tonight. Something about his sister being sick. Nathan knew Bobby well enough to know that there was a good chance he was lying, but he didn't press it. Good for Bobby, standing up to peer obligation. Nathan wished he could do it.

Nathan wandered through the narrow, dimly lit hallways and he eventually found himself in the game room. Attendance was down in here tonight; only a few of the usuals were gathered around the pool table. There was a newcomer tonight, though. Nathan recognized her instantly. Piper placed her cue stick expertly along the edge of the table and cleared the table with one swift movement.

"That was impressive," Nathan said, taking a cue stick off of the rack on the wall, "But not impossible."

"Bow down, peasants," Jacob said. "The King has arrived to preside over his table. Sorry, Piper. You don't stand a chance against him."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Let's see what you've got then."

Nathan never got nervous when he was playing pool, but as he loaded the balls back into the rack, he felt his fingers trembling. He really hoped he wouldn't mess up in front of Piper. She'd laugh at him for sure.

Turned out he'd gotten himself all worked up for nothing. The balls sailed off of the table beautifully, much faster than they had in Piper's shot. Applause filled the room.

"That was amazing," Piper said. "I could have never done that."

"If you think that was amazing, wait until you play chess with him!" Hank exclaimed. "He beat me in five minutes!"

Frank held his hand up. "Hank, calm down."

Hank looked mad about being silenced but stayed quiet nonetheless.

"What else can you do?" Piper inquired.

"You're just going to have to find out," Nathan said. He was taken aback by his own words. He didn't know he could act so...Marcus.

"I guess. I will. But can we at least finish?" Piper asked, placing the balls back into the rack. "I'd at least like to lose a full game."

* * *

Leila was bored out of her mind.

Since it had been the first game of the season, the party was packed and almost out of control. Hazel had taken refuge in the basement with Reyna and Natalya, and Leila followed suit. This was the way most parties at Dakota's went. Natalya even had a key so they could lock the door. So far there had been no sign of Marcus and Leila hoped that it would stay that way.

As Leila twisted Hazel's hair up into space buns to distract herself, the door opened and the noise of the party on the other side of the door filled the basement for a few moments before it was closed again and the sound of the television took precedence.

"Hazel!" A familiar voice called. "You look just like a little chocolate Princess Leia!" Marcus reached over the back of the couch and pinched Hazel's cheeks with his pointer and middle fingers.

"What did I tell you about pinching me?" Hazel scolded, but Leila could tell that she was enjoying the attention from the older set. Freshmen didn't usually get past Dakota's front door, but since Hazel was practically family (she was related to Nico, who was related to Jason, so she was family for a few of them) so she was given special admittance.

"And Natalya!" Marcus continued, jumping over the back of the couch so he was seated between Hazel and Reyna, "You look as pale and sickly as ever! I'd be happy to prescribe something for that. It's called going outside sometimes. Lucky for you, it's covered by your insurance, no copay."

"Wow!" Natalya said sarcastically. "Covered by my insurance, did you say? How convenient!"

Then, Marcus turned to Reyna. "I have some news you probably don't want to hear, but I saw Drew hovering your boyfriend."

Reyna folded her arms. "Let her try. Jason's a much better person than that. He wouldn't do that to me."

"No, he wouldn't," Leila blurted. "Jason's a good person and he acts like one. He would never let some skank cheat on you." She made direct eye contact with Marcus when she said it.

"Really?" Marcus asked. "Because lately he's been acting like a really big asshat."

"Like someone else I know."

"Maybe if _someone_ would stop overreacting we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now. But _someone_ is being really problematic."

"And who would this someone you keep mentioning happen to be?"

Marcus rose slowly. "Can we talk? Outside?"

Leila didn't want to go, but she could see where this was going to end up if she stayed. Instead of taking the door that led upstairs, Marcus took the door that led outside and to the side of the house. He stuck his hands in the pocket of his USC fleece hoodie. It was Leila's favorite.

"Look, these talks are never easy," Marcus began, not meeting her gaze. The moon was bright that night and it looked paperwhite in his dark eyes. Leila could guess how the conversation would go. He'd beg for her forgiveness, she'd play hard to get and once they did make up, they'd make out for the rest of the night.

"I...I need a break."

"What are you talking about?"

"I need a break," Marcus repeated, with more gusto. "From everything."

Leila nodded. "I know. I hope you're still considering quitting football. Have you talked to the community colleges yet?"

"No," Marcus said bitterly, "I haven't. And I wasn't talking about school or football. I need a break, Leila. From all of this. From us."

Leila was taken aback."From us?"

He nodded. "We've tried to make it work so many times and we keep going in circles. It's been forever and we're in the same place. I can't take it anymore."

"Then maybe we should work harder," Leila said, sounding desperate. "I won't give up on our relationship. And after all we've been through, I can't believe you would either."

Marcus rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry. Maybe in a few months, we can talk about getting back together."

"I...I don't know what to say." Leila could feel the tears pooling in her eyes, but she willed herself not to cry. "I wanted a break too, or at least I thought I did. I never expected it to be this way."

"I still want us to be friends if you're willing." Marcus's voice was shaking.

Leila shook her head. "I need to go. Right now."

"Leila, I really am sorry-"

"An apology isn't going to fix anything," she said icily, stalking away and wiping the tears fervently from her cheeks.

That night, Leila swore not to wish for anything ever again.

* * *

"Hey you," Drew said, standing next to Jason with a bottle of beer in her hand. "You guys played a killer game tonight. You especially."

Jason looked away. "Not tonight, Drew. I need to find Reyna anyway."

Drew pouted her lip. "I'm hurt. Can't we just talk? Like friends?"

Jason smirked. "Most of our encounters have been a lot more than friendly."

"I don't see why we can't change that." She wrapped her nimble fingers around his wrist and dragged him into the drawing room, locking the door behind her.

"Drew, I meant it. Don't try anything."

"Chill!" She said, draping herself on an armchair. "I just want to ask about Reyna."

Jason raised his eyebrow in question.

"Well, the rumor is that you had a fight this week."

"Why should that matter to you?"

"You said you were going to tell her about us."

Jason rolled his eyes. "What am I supposed to tell her, Drew? That I've been cheating on her for half a year and that it usually happens when she's around?"

Drew frowned. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"I...I can't tell her. She's not only my girlfriend, she's my best friend and I won't break her heart."

"Oh, honey. You already have. And when she finds out, it's all going to come crashing down and there's no chance you can fix it."

"Thanks for the encouragement."

Drew shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. I'm not here to sugarcoat things for you, but I'll be here when you're ready to go exclusive." She got up and straddled his waist. "Until then, I'm happy with this."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Jason asked, squirming underneath her. He knew he was enjoying it, and he knew it was bad.

Drew pressed her finger to his lips. "Less talking, Mr. Perfect. More action."

* * *

"So you're good at pool, chess, checkers, and you're nationally ranked in Scrabble," Piper said, listing off on her fingers. "You fix computers in your spare time and you've been a straight A student since Kindergarten?"

"Except in behavior. I got a C in second grade."

"Minor infraction. "Is there anything you can't do?"

"Oh yeah," Nathan said. "I can't draw to save my life. I can't play football and I couldn't win a fistfight."

"Bet you could."

"Well, you'd lose money on that bet." Nathan chuckled darkly. "That's why I tend to avoid fights. Getting in them just makes everything worse."

"I agree." Piper lay back on the sofa and stared at the ceiling. She was enjoying this. She hadn't given Jason a second thought in the time she'd spent with Nathan.

"What are you good at?" Nathan asked her, trying to lighten the mood.

"Getting in trouble, it seems."

Nathan shook his head. "I don't believe it."

"Talk to my Dad's assistant. You'd be appalled."

Nathan looked impressed. "Your dad has an assistant? Cool. The only thing my dad has is a tax job he always complains about."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," Piper said earnestly. "I'd give anything to have a normal life." As soon as she said stuff like that, Piper usually regretted it. But she felt like she could trust Nathan. Not that she would tell him that her father was the most popular movie star in the country or anything.

"What do you mean, a normal life?" Nathan asked. Before Piper had to answer, his phone rang. The contact name read Marin. Piper's stomach tightened. Did Nathan have a girlfriend after all?

"Damn," he swore. "It's my sister. I'm going to have to head out. I'm sorry."

Piper breathed a sigh of relief, but she still felt disappointed that he was leaving. "That's okay. I understand."

"I'll see you on Monday, okay?" Then, he leaned down, placed his hands on her waist softly and kissed her.

It was a cheek kiss and it probably lasted only about five seconds, but it was the closest Piper had ever been to a real kiss. It turned her heart to sludge. She didn't move to the spot for several moments after.

"What was that?" Piper asked once she found her voice again. Nathan's cheeks were scarlet. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, it just sort of...happened. You know when you do something and you don't know why you did it but it just feels-"

"Nathan," Piper said, taking his hand in hers, "It's okay. I'll see you Monday."

Nathan gave her a small smile and walked away, picking up his jacket from the hook near the door and shrugging it on as he left.

Piper felt like jumping up and down and squealing like a little girl. Nathan liked her! She couldn't wait for Monday.

"Did Nathan just kiss you?" someone asked. The voice was familiar, so Piper turned to see who it was. Jason. His blue eyes looked ablaze with emotions Piper recognized instantly; guilt and resentment. Piper saw them in her own eyes when she looked in the mirror every day.

"Why do you ask."

His eyes followed Nathan down the path to the curb. They watched him get in. His card and drive down the street before they fell back on Piper. "Come with me," Jason said. He led her down a hallway she hadn't been yet. This one had a wide window and a window seat. The moon was the only source of light, and Piper noted that it was a full one. She wouldn't have been a sci-fi fan if she didn't understand that strange things happened on nights with full moons.

Jason embraced her suddenly, taking in her kaleidoscope eyes like they were the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. And, in a sense, they were. He wanted to get lost in her. In that moment, nothing mattered; not school, football, Reyna or Drew. He was standing there, holding her and that was the greatest achievement of his life. But it wasn't what he wanted. What he really wanted…

His eyes fell from her eyes to her full, pink lips. They were perfect, just like the rest of her.

"Jason," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know," Jason replied. Then, he kissed her.

It wasn't on the cheek.


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N: Sorry for the delay and the short chapter. Marching band is almost over so new updates will be coming more frequently (hopefully). Lyrics aren't mine.**

* * *

"Well? What did you think?" Annabeth asked on their way back home. "Did you have fun?"

Piper was still reeling from the kiss. She'd never expected her first kiss to turn out so dramatically and she wasn't sure how to feel. Furthermore, she knew she couldn't tell Annabeth about it. Apparently, she and Jason's sister were close, to say nothing of her friendship with Reyna.

"I did have a nice time. I hung out with Nathan for most of it, but he had to leave because his sister called him."

Annabeth nodded. "That sounds like Nathan. He cares a lot about his family. He'd make a great husband someday." She nudged Piper in the ribs with her elbow.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Annabeth, I haven't even taken the SAT yet. It's too early to think about marriage right now."

"Is it?" Annabeth inquired, her eyes staying glued to the road. "I don't think so. I know already Percy's the man I'm going to marry."

That, Piper thought, was true love.

"I can't believe your parents let you stay out this late," Piper said. "Jane...er, my dad, would be so angry with me."

Annabeth shrugged. "Marie doesn't really care what I do, and Dad knows I'm responsible." She parallel-parked into her spot perfectly in front of the house and unlocked the door swiftly. Marie was sitting in the chair in the parlor, her arms crossed and an annoyed expression plastered on her face.

"It is three in the morning," She said softly, but her voice was full of anger. "What do you think you're doing? I'm ashamed to be related to you!"

Annabeth frowned. "First of all, I'm not related to you. Secondly, I called Dad and let him know that we were going to a party. He said it was fine."

Marie scoffed. "Like he makes the decisions around here." Marie then turned to Piper and the anger in her eyes intensified. "Jane was right about you being a klepto. I was looking for my diamond necklace to wear to a dinner, and guess where I found it?! In your room!"

Piper clenched her fists. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Marie laughed bitterly. Her laugh reminded Piper of Maleficent on Sleeping Beauty. "Lying is only going to make your punishment worse."

"Punishment?"

"Yes, punishment. I want this floor swept, mopped and waxed. Then, I want the dishes in the sink washed by hand. After that, you can scrub the baseboards."

"She's not your maid," Annabeth snapped.

Marie raised her eyebrows. "Am I hearing you'd like to join her?"

Annabeth said nothing.

"That's what I thought. Now get to work, Piper. You've got a long night ahead of you. And try not to wake the boys. They need their sleep."

Piper couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But it's three in the morning!"

"Then you should have thought twice about taking things that aren't yours. Chop, chop!" She clapped her hands twice and stalked away.

Piper sighed and trudged along toward the broom closet. She decided that if this was what regular teenagers had to endure, no wonder they were so miserable.

* * *

Friday nights were always uncomfortable for Jason. He hated looking out the window and seeing his mother rush into the house after a long night of drinking with a different man in tow. Then, the guy would be in the kitchen the next morning eating the pop tarts. Thalia would chase him out with a broom, and she'd do the same thing on Sunday morning.

While Jason was far from an alcoholic, his mother definitely was. Beryl Grace was a popular actress in the 80's and early 90's, acting in a series of commercials as a child and eventually earning a starring role on the primetime soap opera Daley's Creek (the reruns that aired in the middle of the night still made Jason cringe) at age 15. Her fame captured the attention of a very wealthy businessman named Zeus, and the two began an affair, even though Zeus was married.

Once word got out of their doings, Zeus' wife, Heran (known as Hera), was disgusted and forced him to cease all contact with Beryl, but by then it had been too late. Beryl was pregnant with Jason's older sister, Thalia. Daley's Creek was canceled due to the violation of her contract, and after Thalia was born, she turned to drugs and alcohol to nurse her wounds.

This was only the beginning of the story, though. Within seven years, Beryl caught the attention of Jupiter, Zeus' half-brother. One thing led to another, and soon she was pregnant again. Jupiter's wife Juno was so angry, she and Hera got together and insisted on naming the baby themselves. They chose Jason, an ex-boyfriend of Hannah's from years past, hoping it would annoy Beryl. It didn't work. She loved her son with all of her heart.

The first few years of Jason's life were awesome. His father was around often and Beryl cleaned up her act and began to build a better life for her family. But when Jason turned four, all of that changed. One morning, Jason woke up to find that Beryl had abandoned them. He and Thalia, then 11, managed on their own for the weekend, but on that Monday morning, Thalia called the police.

They went to stay with Sally, their aunt, and Percy, their cousin, in New York for a few days while the police looked for Beryl. Those were some of the best days of his life. He felt like a kid with a regular mom with regular siblings, not a mom who abandoned them in an apartment. It was then that Percy became Jason's best friend, and they'd been that way ever since.

The police found Beryl in Arizona, passed out in a Kmart parking lot with three cases of beer in the trunk and two in the passenger seat. Beryl was arrested for a week, made bail, and came back to San Francisco, but so changed. She'd never been the same woman Jason knew her as since, instead an insecure narcissist who blamed her son and daughter for everything that went wrong. Even though Jason despised what she had done to them more than he despised anything else, he still loved his mother dearly and hoped he could gain his approval, even though he knew he never would.

Jason took a long shower once he got upstairs to his bathroom, turning the water up as hot as it would go, scrubbing his skin until it turned red and his hair until it tingled. He decided to call it a night after that, leaving the blinds partially open so the dim light from outside cast white rays across Jason's bed. He fell asleep listening to Thalia's angry rock from her room upstairs and the creaking of the bed down the hall.

 _In the crowd of pain_

 _St. Jimmy comes without any shame._

 _He says, "We're fucked up but we're not the same._

 _And mom and dad are the ones you can blame."_

 _Jimmy died today_

 _He blew his brains out into the bay_

 _In the states of mind_

 _It's my own private suicide_

 _Well nobody cares_

 _Well nobody cares_

 _Does anyone care if nobody cares?_

 _Well nobody cares_

 _Well nobody cares_

 _Does anyone care if nobody cares?_


	8. Chapter Seven

**Didn't expect to put out a new chapter so soon! Call it a rarity :)**

* * *

"I miss you," Annabeth said for the hundredth time. "I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see you again."

"I miss you, too," Percy said. Annabeth hated talking over FaceTime. Percy didn't look the way he did on the small computer screen in real life. His voice didn't sound tinny and small the way the computer speakers made it sound. The only redeeming quality of it all was that she got to see him. Long distance was hard, but they made it work. Unlike most things, Annabeth put lots of effort into it, and she was very happy that Percy had done the same.

"I have something to tell you," he said, running his hand through his dark hair and averting his eyes from the camera. "I don't think I'm going to be able to come for Thanksgiving."

Annabeth's heart sunk. "What do you mean? We've had this planned out for months!"

"I know, I know. I want to be there with you guys, I really do. But the doctor said that the baby is supposed to be coming then, and I want to be there for her."

"Then I'll come up there," Annabeth said frantically. "I can help out. I know how to change a diaper."

Percy bit his lip. "I don't know if that's such a good idea, Wise Girl. We planned to keep her kind of close to the family for a few months."

Annabeth's eyes filled with tears. "Percy, what about me? What about us?"

"I hope you'll understand, Annabeth. There's always Christmas. I was planning on going to visit Thalia and Jason then anyway."

Annabeth didn't say anything.

"So how's that girl doing?" Percy asked, trying to change the subject. "What's her name? Patricia?"

"Piper," Annabeth said curtly. "Her name is Piper. And I have to go."

"Annabeth," Percy began. But she'd already hung up.

* * *

Monday was warm, but it brought rain. The mood was somber.

With the exception of Natalya, of course.

As soon as Piper and Marcus walked into the school, Natalya was standing at a big table in the front, handing out cookies and campaign flyers.

"I thought elections weren't until November," Marcus said, taking a cookie and ignoring the flyer.

"It's never too early to get your voters hyped about your campaign," Natalya replied. "Besides, so far I'm the only candidate running for president next year. I can accuse all of my opponents of bandwagoning. I have the upper hand."

"Smart," Piper noted, scanning over a flyer. "But aren't you already the student council president?"

"Each grade level has a different representative. Natalya is campaigning for next year. She plans to take Reyna's spot." Marcus explained, casting Natalya a sideways glance. "She's got some tough shoes to fill."

"Hey!" Natalya said, crossing her arms. "I've done a lot for this school, too. Just look at my track record. I've organized countless volunteer projects, started a food drive, renovated the rooftop garden, opened a vegan line in the cafeteria-"

"That's enough, Mother Teresa," Hank interrupted, taking a cookie and a flyer as he walked by. "You've got my vote, though. It's better than the alternative, anyway."

"Alternative?!" Natalya screeched, earning a few worried glances from her peers. "What alternative?"

"You didn't hear? Bryce Lawrence signed up this morning. He's already got an endorsement."

Just like that, Natalya's cheery mood was gone.

"He's doing it just to get back at me, I know it!" She grumbled, clenching her fists. "It's not like I meant to beat him in the trivia competition or anything!"

"Bryce is never going to win," Hank assured her. "His record is trash. I mean, most of the kids in this school treat elections like a popularity contest, but I'll bet they have a sliver of common sense, too."

Natalya shrugged. "Maybe you're right. But I still want to expose him. I need to make sure he loses. Hank, you wouldn't mind doing some investigative work, would you?"

Hank contemplated it for a moment. "What's in it for me?"

"I'll give you the rest of these cookies."

"Deal," Hank said, grinning and snatching the Tupperware box. "I'll have a list of information by the end of the week." With that, he was off, trotting down the hallway like a skinny pig.

"Well, well, well! What have we here?" A tall blonde kid approached Natalya's table with a disgusted look on his face. His features were far from attractive; he looked like a watered-down Jason with messy blonde hair, paper-white skin, and electric, crazed blue eyes. Despite all of this, however, he seemed to exude power. The way he held himself commanded authority. Clearly, he was someone important.

"Can I help you, Octavian?" Natalya asked sharply. "Are you interested in my campaign?"

Octavian laughed. "Far from it, my dear. I would enjoy nothing more than to see your campaign crash and burn. As senior council co-president, I plan to officially endorse Bryce this afternoon."

"Your endorsement won't mean anything if Reyna's not behind it," Marcus countered. "She has a higher approval rating and you know it. Hell, the only reason anyone voted for you is because they were scared."

Octavian glared at Marcus. "I'll have you benched for that one, Ford. Choose your words carefully next time. As for you Natalya, I'll be looking forward to your resignation." Octavian took a flyer, whipped out a pocket knife, and made a single, perfectly clean cut through it, letting the pieces float to the floor. After his silent threat had been made, he walked away.

"You've gotta love Octavian," Marcus sighed. "Quarterback of the varsity team, super rich, and, quite obviously, a giant asshat."

"He seems like a jerk," Piper agreed.

"He might be a jerk, but that won't stop people from voting for Bryce," Natalya said. "Lots of people like Octavian, and it's obvious what he's doing is trying to keep his legacy in office after he's gone."

"So what are you going to do to beat him?" Piper asked.

"Good question, new girl," Natalya replied. "I'm going to fight fire with fire. It always works."

* * *

There wasn't a game scheduled for that week, so things were slow. Since the students didn't have much else to focus on, the teachers decided to make use of the time. Before anyone knew it, there were projects and quizzes being scheduled, essays being assigned, and homework piling up.

Meanwhile, Nathan felt overwhelmed. With home life, school life, and football, he could barely keep everything under control. But of course, there was a silver lining. Piper.

They weren't officially dating because he hadn't asked her out yet, but he was sure that she liked him and he definitely liked her, so it was only a matter of time. Plus, they were partners for the English project. That was another perfect excuse to spend time with her.

The book they'd been assigned to analyze was The Great Gatsby, which had been assigned for reading last year. It was one of Nathan's favorite books because he found the characters to be intricate and well-written. He told Piper this during their first day of work.

"I don't think so," Piper disagreed. "I never really liked the book. The characters were all so linear. Especially Carroway. He was my least favorite."

"May I ask why?" Nathan inquired. Nick was his favorite character.

"He chased after Jordan the whole book, and it was kind of obvious she wasn't into him. He tried his best, but I feel like she was just dating him to be polite. I found it annoying and I felt sorry for Jordan."

"I guess you're right," Nathan said. "But I think the disintegration of the relationship was her fault. She strung Nick along for so long, slowly morphing him into something he wasn't until he didn't know who he was anymore. By the time he realized it, she'd already drifted away. It was a lose-lose situation from the get-go."

Piper looked amazed. "That was perfect, Nathan. We should definitely use that in our analysis." Her eyes were ablaze with excitement and determination. "Maybe we can work on it over the weekend or something."

Nathan nodded. "That sounds good. Natalya and Bobby are working on the same book, so we can all meet up somewhere on Saturday. Does that sound good?"

"Actually, I was hoping it would just be you and me."

Nathan had to make a conscious effort not to blush. "Sure. We can meet at my house. I'll text you the address." His voice was an octave higher than it should have been.

Piper smiled. "Sounds great. It's a date then."

This, Nathan figured, was going to be a very long four days to wait.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had a pretty bad case of writer's block with this story. Happy NaNoWriMo!**

* * *

Friday was painful for both parties.

Marcus and Leila usually went to the movies when he didn't have a game and she didn't have an FFA meeting. But of course, the bye week had to fall on the week after they'd broken up. It didn't help that it happened to be the anniversary of the debacle, either. The silver lining was that nothing good at the box office ever came out in September.

Leila worked in her garden until it was too dark to see anything. Some people might call her gardening habit obsessive, but Leila certainly didn't see it that way. There were always flowers to be watered, beds to be cleaned, weeds to be pulled. The work never ended, and it required meticulous attention to detail to keep it perfect, just the way she liked it. On that night, however, it was just busy work, a distraction. She barely noticed that she'd pulled a few flowers out with her weeds.

Leila missed Marcus, but she was in deep denial. What was she supposed to do now? He'd broken up with her, and it wasn't the usual (often meaningless) breakups they usually went through. This was the real thing. Marcus was barely ever serious about anything, but he was completely serious about ending their relationship. Leila didn't understand. How had they gotten here so quickly? Was it something she had done? How could she have wished for something like this to happen, only to have it hurt so badly after she'd gotten it? Just thinking about it made her want to burst into tears.

Meanwhile, Marcus wasn't doing much better. He really regretted breaking up with Leila now; he certainly missed her more than he thought he would. But what he had done was in the best interest of the both of them. Their relationship had grown from a beautiful ship to a creaky old boat with leaks everywhere. They'd tried countless times to plug the holes, but it just kept sinking. They both needed a break from each other. It was obvious to everyone, and Marcus was a little embarrassed that it had taken him this long to realize it. But if this was such a good idea, why did he feel so empty?

It was during his contemplation that the phone rang. Considering nobody ever called the landline anymore, Marcus answered it out of sheer curiosity.

"Is this the Ford residence?" The person on the other line asked. "I'm looking to speak with Marcus."

"This is he," Marcus said, his guard high. Who would be calling the house for him? "How can I help you?"

"My name is Gerard Hiddlebrant, and I'm a recruiter for USC. I saw you in your last game and was extremely impressed with your performance. Do you think we could schedule a meeting after your next game?"

Marcus's head was spinning. On one hand, USC was a very good school and a recruiter was already interested in him. That was kind of a big deal. On the other hand, this was not the kind of recruiter he'd had in mind. Besides, he didn't want football to be the only reason a school like that was interested in him.

Then again, he'd made the decision about football with Leila. Since she was out of the picture now, maybe he should rethink that decision, too. Besides, if he could get into a school like USC with barely any effort in school, was football such a big price to pay? Marcus didn't really think so now.

"Mr. Ford?" asked Gerard. "Are you still there?"

"Yes, I am. I'd be very interested in a meeting, sir."

* * *

Nathan's house didn't appear much different than any of the other townhomes on the block from a distance, but Piper thought it was the prettiest. It was an older style but had since been renovated with a fresh coat of paint. The house itself was white, but the accents and the door were done in a hunter green. A nickel-colored door knocker was placed in the center of the door, and Piper knocked three times.

After a few minutes, nobody answered the door, so Piper rung the doorbell. Someone opened the door partially and looked out. He looked nothing like Nathan; in fact, he looked much like Jason. He was either a hard seventeen or a young nineteen and had close-cut blonde hair, blue eyes, and a lazy, indifferent expression.

"We heard you the first time, and we don't want any of what you're selling."

"Does Nathan live here?"

The boy stared at her like a specimen. "Yes. Who wants to know?"

"I'm his partner for a school project and he invited me over here to work on it."

Suddenly, there was some scuffling and what sounded like someone jumping downstairs. The boy stepped aside. "You can come in. I don't think he's ready yet, and I figure if I let someone as pretty as you stand outside, I'd never hear the end of it." Piper couldn't help but blush.

Turned out, there was someone jumping down the stairs. A small boy of about four was coming down, carrying a large teddy bear in his arms and sucking his thumb. He was precious.

"That's Garrett," the boy said. "Watch out for him. He'll bite your ankles."

"He'll do what?!" Piper exclaimed.

"Bite your ankles. The doctor thinks he's just acting out a deep-rooted insecurity. Nobody really knows."

"That sounds...concerning."

"It is," the boy agreed. "I'm Lucas, by the way, Nathan's brother. What's your name?"

Piper was about to answer, but Nathan appeared from the top of the stairs with a girl carrying a baby.

"Piper!" He exclaimed. "You're early!"

"No," Lucas retorted. "You're late. But you're always late, so that's not surprising." The girl carrying the baby smirked.

"Sorry about that," Nathan apologized. "My clock broke this morning and I haven't had time to fix it. But I see you've met Lucas and Garrett."

"I didn't realize you had so many siblings," Piper commented.

"You've only met half of us," Nathan replied. "There's 9, including me. I'm right in the middle."

"Wow. I could never imagine having 9 siblings."

"Neither could we," The girl said sadly. "But mom just kept having them. I'm Vanna."

Piper raised her eyebrows. "That's an interesting name. Very unique."

"Not unique enough. I hate having to tell people that I'm named after the woman on Wheel of Fortune."

"If you hate telling people about it, why do you tell people about it?" Nathan asked, cleaning his glasses on the hem of his shirt.

"Because misery loves company," Lucas interjected, "And if you were to look up 'misery' in the dictionary, you'd see that the definition says, and I quote, 'Vanna Lewis'."

"I am not miserable!" Vanna protested. She then turned to Piper and thrust the baby at her. "This is Isabella. She's the youngest, and she's my favorite because she can't insult me like all the others." Isabella stared at Piper for a few moments and suddenly stuck her little arms forward.

"What is she doing?" Piper asked.

"She wants you to hold her because she likes you!" Garrett piped, tearing his thumb out of his mouth and wiping it on his bear. Piper took the baby gingerly out of Vanna's hands and held her close.

Piper couldn't remember the last time she'd held a baby, but holding Isabella was very nice. It was like holding a warm loaf of bread that squirmed and had a pacifier.

"Come with me," Nathan said, beckoning her to follow. "I want you to meet Mom."

The house was narrower than it was wide and was larger than it appeared on the street. Nathan led her through a hallway, which opened into an expansive kitchen. At the table, a boy of about 10 was working intently with a chemistry set. A girl with ginger hair tied in a tight ponytail leaned over the boy, gesturing to what looked like a set of directions.

"Is she your mother?" Piper asked, worried that a woman who appeared so young could bear that many children.

"Absolutely not," someone said, from behind her. Piper whirled around to face a (thankfully) visibly older woman. She was a few inches shorter than Piper, and she had the same ginger hair as the girl at the table. It was obvious that they were related.

"My name is Robin. You must be Piper. We've heard a lot about you." Robin took off her yellow gloves and shook Piper's hand. "I take it you two have a project to work on."

"We do," Nathan said, "But I forgot it was my day to take care of Isabella. So, I'm going to drop her off, and we'll be back, okay?"

Robin folded her arms over her chest. "I don't know, Nathan. I'm not sure I trust Isabella over there after what happened last time."

"What happened last time?" Piper inquired.

Robin's lips thinned. "Let's just say I am very glad my brother does not have any children. He would make a terrible father."

"Mom, please?" Nathan begged. "Besides, I already promised everyone she'd be coming today."

Robin sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll get her bottles ready."

20 minutes later, Piper, Nathan, Isabella and Vanna (who insisted that she was the only one who could ensure Isabella's well-being and that she'd call an Uber later), were on their way to someplace that Nathan refused to disclose.

Piper was nervous, sure, but it was also kind of exhilarating, traveling across the majestic bay bridge with Nathan. He had both hands on the steering wheel, but he still managed to drive recklessly. Strangely, it made her feel safe.

They drove into what appeared to be a more pretentious side of town. It was composed of mainly older buildings, but the people who got out of their expensive SUV's carrying briefcases and two cell phones looked like they meant business. Nathan whipped his Nissan into one of the lots, taking up 2 parking spaces in the process. Vanna got Isabella's car seat out and carried her inside, followed by Piper and Nathan.

The building was cold and crisp, and it smelled like plants and essential oils. The lobby's floor was old granite and the windowsills on the walls were full of succulents and tropical palms. Nathan led the way up a few flights of stairs, down a hallway and down a flight of stairs. There were many offices through the hallway, ranging from law offices to tailor shops to hair salons and costume emporiums. Piper wondered how such different businesses could coexist under the same roof.

Down the last flight of stairs, there was a drop-off, which led into a very large room. The walls and carpet were tan, but there were shelves upon shelves upon shelves of colorful books. In the center of the room, there were white columns that stemmed from the ceiling. The columns were cornered around a desk similar to one in a library. A man in his mid thirties was reading a book intently. Marcus was sitting on the desk, his feet dangling over the edge. Nico di Angelo was leaning against one of the columns, watching something on a large laptop. Jason was lying on the last desk, staring at the ceiling. There was no one else in the room.

Marcus glanced up from his phone, and his eyes sparkled when his eyes landed on the quartet. "The love of my life!" he exclaimed, rushing over to them and taking Isabella in his arms. The baby giggled with delight and clutched onto his shirt with her hands.

"Isabella is Marcus's favorite," Vanna explained, still using her morose tone. "He loves her, and she loves him. She's practically his daughter."

"Well, well, well!" Marcus said sarcastically. "Look what the cat dragged in! I can't imagine why you'd bring vain Vanna with you. She's not going to do anything but sulk all over the place." Vanna strolled past him to the record player, dropping the diaper bag at his feet and giving him the middle finger.

"Now darling," Marcus said, "That's no way to act in front of the baby." Isabella grasped her own pacifier from her clip and placed it into her mouth. It reminded Piper very much of Maggie from The Simpsons.

There was a crackling noise over the stereo, and the sound of a song from a band Piper couldn't place filled the room. The reading man looked up from his book sharply, a loathsome look etched onto his face. "One of these days I am going to take that Yellowcard record and throw it clear across the Pacific. For Juno's sakes, play something else!"

"Uncle Max," Nathan said cautiously as if he were speaking to a vicious animal, "This is my friend Piper. She just moved here from Los Angeles."

"Ah, yes. Another pretentious southerner. My name is Max, this is my literary emporium, and these," Max said, gesturing to the boys around the counter, "Are my worthless employees. Except for Isabella. She's not working here. We follow child labor laws if anyone's asking."

Piper frowned. "Did you just call me a pretentious southerner?"

"Perhaps," Max said, turning from his book and rearranging the shelf of books behind him. "But can you blame me? Most of your kind are quite an ostentatious bunch."

"That's not fair," Nico said, glancing up from his phone. "To stereotype people like that, I mean. You should drop doing that, Max."

Max sighed and ran his hands through his thinning brown hair. "Next time I'd like to take advice from a freshman, I'll let you know. Until then, make yourself busy." Max shoved a cart of new books in Nico's direction. "Those need to go in the science fiction display." Nico sighed, closed the laptop, and began his work.

"What did you need me to fix, Uncle Max?" Nathan asked, walking behind the desk and examining the setup. It seemed like he already knew what he was doing.

"The system needs a software update," Max explained. He whipped out a key and unlocked a set of cabinet doors. A big black tower took up most of the cabinet. Nathan plugged Nico's laptop into one of the ports and began his work.

Marcus placed Isabella in Jason's arms. "I'm going to lunch, Max. See you later."

"Don't come back!" Max called after him. "You were out to lunch before you even showed up!"

Jason glanced down at the baby. "Hello," he said softly. "You probably don't remember me. I'm Jason." Isabella inspected him for a moment, then buried her head in his arms.

"I don't think she likes me very much," Jason said to nobody in particular.

"I think she likes you a lot. As in like-likes you," Piper replied.

Jason blushed. "She's not even six months yet. Is that supposed to happen?"

"I guess it can happen at any age," Nathan said from behind the desk. "By the way, you two don't have my blessing. She's not dating until she's 30. Or, in any case, until she can talk."

Jason laughed. "That's okay. I'm happily in another relationship." Piper had a hard time believing that. If Jason was so happy in his relationship, why would he have kissed her on the night of the first game?

"Your system is updated, Uncle Max," Nathan said, closing the laptop triumphantly. "In theory. There's only so much you can do to a system that old. Have you looked at any of those brochures for corporate filing systems I sent you?"

"No, and I won't. This system is just fine for my needs, Nathan. And as long as you'll keep updating my system, we won't have any problems. Let me write you a check for your time."

* * *

"Your uncle seems about at pleasant as a root canal," Piper said on the drive back to Nathan's house. "I don't see why he still has employees, and I can see why he doesn't have any customers."

Nathan shrugged. "He wouldn't get many customers anyway. The store is a supplier for smaller bookstores. Owners place orders for books or they can come in and buy the books individually, but it's not exactly open to the general public. Besides, he pays them all pretty well and he's more lenient than he lets on. I would apply but I'm pretty busy at home."

"Your family seems really nice," Piper offered.

"I guess. You haven't seen my dad, though. He's another story."

Nathan didn't offer any more information on the subject, so Piper decided to drop it.

"So, I have a question," Nathan said, keeping his eyes on the road. "If someone you met in the past, say, three weeks asked you out, what would you say?"

Piper tapped her finger against her chin. "I don't know. Depends on the person. Why do you ask?"

"What if that person was me?"

Piper smiled. "Then I'd definitely say yes."

"Good. Because I'd like to invite you somewhere next weekend. It's a surprise."

Piper raised her eyebrows. "Another surprise?"

Nathan nodded. "And I think you'll like this one a whole lot better."


	10. Chapter Nine

Jason hated Sunday evenings for one reason. That reason was Luke Castellan.

Luke was Thalia's best friend (besides Annabeth) and now, unfortunately, her boyfriend. At first, Jason had liked Luke. He'd been a good person in the past, always giving them a place to stay when things got really bad at home. But over the years, things had changed; Luke had changed. Thalia couldn't see it, but Jason could and he didn't think he'd changed for the better.

Jason was out with Reyna for most of the day. He'd forgotten how fun it was to hang out with her and her alone. In fact, he didn't think about Piper once while he was with her. Even though Piper was the most beautiful girl Jason had ever seen, the fact of the matter was that it made sense for him to be with Reyna. They were good together and Jason was the type to follow the rules and make sensible decisions.

Although Jason tried to drag out the time they spent together, Reyna had to leave. Deciding that he could always blame his absence on a traffic jam, Jason drove home, going as slowly as he could. Once he got inside, the first thing he noticed was that the house was eerily quiet. Nobody was in the kitchen or the living room, which was where most of the activity commonly occurred.

Deciding that this was bizarre, Jason trudged up to the second floor to see if he could find anyone. There was no one in Beryl or Thalia's rooms. Giving up, Jason went to his own room. Surprisingly, that was where he found everyone. Thalia and Luke were curled up together on his bed, Annabeth was draped over his desk chair and, totally out of character, was Beryl, a large photo album open in her lap, her blue eyes sparkling with happiness and nostalgia.

Thalia waved once she saw him. "Hey, kid! Do you want to look at your baby pictures with us?"

Luke smiled and snaked his arm around Thalia's waist. "I didn't know you tried to eat a stapler, Jason. Was it any good?"

Beryl flipped a page in the album and studied the pictures intently. "That was Jason's favorite pacifier," Thalia explained, gesturing to the book. "I couldn't get him to stop crying without it."

"What are you guys doing in my room?" Jason blurted. He didn't want to sound like a jerk, but he felt like an outsider in his own home. Something was very, very wrong.

Annabeth frowned. "We were waiting up for you-"

"In my room?" Jason repeated. "Because that kind of seems like a dick move."

Thalia frowned. "Jason, are you okay? You're being really hostile."

"You'd be hostile if four people came into your room and made themselves at home."

"To be fair," Luke said, "We did knock before we came in."

"I wasn't even home!" Jason exclaimed.

"Are you on drugs?" Thalia asked, her expression turning to one of horror. "Oh god Jason, please don't tell me you're doing drugs!"

"That's okay," Beryl said dreamily. "Exploration is the best form of learning."

"Mother," Thalia snapped, "Let me be the parent here."

Beryl rolled her eyes. "Thalia," she mocked, "I am the parent."

"I'm not on drugs," Jason said slowly. "But I am ready for all four of you to get the hell out of my room."

Annabeth glared at him. "I don't know what's gotten into you Jason, but I suggest you work on getting it out."

"You ought to work on getting out, too." Jason made a big scene of gesturing out the door.

After Annabeth, Thalia, and Beryl left, Luke hung behind. Jason pointed at the door, but Luke shook his head. "I need to talk to you," he said. "Please close it." Jason kicked the door closed and sat in the chair opposite the bed. "Make it quick. I have...homework."

Luke wrung his hands. "First of all, are you feeling alright? You sure you're not on drugs?"

"Get to the point, Castellan," Jason snapped.

"Right, right. I've noticed a change in you in the past few years, Jason. It worries me."

Jason gave him a cynical glance, trying his best not to laugh in Luke's face. "You think I'm the one who's changed?"

"Yes, actually. And I want to help you. I know this might seem a little weird, but I really want to be like an older brother to you. I think it would help. I mean, my life is far from perfect, but if you had an example to follow it might be beneficial to you."

"I have an example already, Castellan. His name is Percy Jackson. And I want you to know that you will never in all of my days be like an older brother to me. I don't even regard you as a friend. Do you understand me, Castellan? I don't need you."

"That's unfortunate," Luke said slowly, turning away from Jason. "Because I think we'll be closer than you think."

"And why would you think that?"

"Because," Luke said, a smile creeping onto his face, "I intend to ask Thalia to marry me."

"Oh no," Jason mumbled, feeling as if the air had been knocked out of his lungs. The thought of Luke Castellan as Jason's brother-in-law was enough to make him want to run away and never come back. Luke would be Thalia's husband. Luke would be part of their family. Luke Castellan would be his brother. Jason couldn't stand the thought of it.

"Oh yes," Luke said, almost menacingly. "You won't have a choice in the matter after that." He walked toward the door and turned the handle.

"You haven't got my blessing," Jason said as he left.

"That's all right, Jason," Luke said, with an eerily calm tone. "I never asked for it."

* * *

"I hate waking up early," Bobby complained, "And I really hate the weight room."

"I don't really mind either of them," Frank said, finishing his bench press set. "What I hate is Octavian."

Currently, Octavian was roaming around the room, yelling at people. The coaches and trainers were out at a conference that day, so they'd put Octavian in charge. It was an awful idea. He was tyrannical, rude and set expectations that not even he could meet.

"Let's go, Zhang!" Octavian said, clapping his hands loudly. "Lose that fat, build that muscle!" He tapped his finger against his chin. "Assuming that leg of yours is back to normal. I'd be happy to put Michael in your place for another game. I just want you to be healed after that horrible accident."

"That accident was your fault," Frank spat back. "Trust me, Octavian. I'm fine. And I'm more than ready to play on Friday."

"Very well," Octavian said sourly. "Let Bobby have a go on the weights now. Lord knows he needs it."

Bobby rolled his eyes and switched places with Frank, changing the setting to a much lighter load.

Later, the two were outside eating lunch. Michael approached them with his tray. Frank gave him an annoyed look. Bobby didn't even look in his direction.

"Can I sit down?" Michael asked. Frank gestured lazily to the bench.

"Look, Zhang. Octavian didn't mean anything today in the weight room. He doesn't have the authority to replace you."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "He might not be able to replace Frank outright, but he's got a hell of a lot of influence. Influence can get you anywhere you please."

Michael shrugged. "In any case, I don't want your job. You're an amazing linebacker, Zhang. I could never live up to you."

"Thanks," Frank said, beaming.

"Don't thank me. I'm not the one who made you a star. I kind of like being a benchwarmer anyway. You basically get the best seat in the house for free. Plus, you don't have to put up with Octavian."

Frank furrowed his brow. "I thought you and Octavian were best friends or something."

Michael smirked. "That's what he thinks. Truth is, I don't really like him at all."

Bobby laughed and took a long swig of his Coke. "Yeah, right. Tell us anything. Last year you were practically his lapdog."

"That was last year," Michael fired back, a hurt expression crossing his face. "People can change."

"People don't change," Bobby snapped. "Especially not people like you."

* * *

It was uncomfortably warm that week. The weather reminded Piper very much of L.A., but if anything it was an indication that a season change was forthcoming in San Francisco.

The indications seemed to ring true that week, as well. The weather may have been rather stuffy and hot, but the season change for Piper came in the form of trashy Drew Tanaka and her equally trashy comrades.

"So you're Piper," Drew said, approaching Piper in the library during lunch. "The juvenile delinquent. I would say you got those clothes in jail, but then I'd be giving the jail too much credit. It's obvious those came from the trash, which is where you belong."

Piper took out one of her earbuds. "Excuse me?"

Drew laughed maniacally. "I know, new girl. I know everything about you. And I know you're getting very close to some of my friends. I'm not okay with that."

Piper narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"

"Drew Tanaka. And if you don't follow my instructions very carefully, I'm going to become your worst nightmare."

Piper rolled her eyes. She had plenty of experience dealing with girls like Drew. They all seemed to taint the snobby private schools Tristan used to send her to. Piper figured it was just part of the private school package, but apparently, it was evident in public school too. Funny, Piper thought, how parents paid thousands of dollars to send their kids to elite schools only for the people in public school to act exactly the same.

"And what are your demands? Money? Service? An old-fashioned knuckle sandwich?"

"I am not amused," Drew snapped. "Your humor has no effect on me. My requirement is that you stay away from Jason. He's mine and I know you like him."

Piper laughed. There was no way that Drew Tanaka was going to know how she felt about Jason. "First of all, you two aren't even together. He and Reyna are dating and they seem really happy. Secondly, Jason and I are friends, nothing more. He seems like a pretty good person but I don't feel anything for him beyond that. Sorry to ruin your confrontation."

Drew looked very angry. "You will fulfill my request. Do you understand me?"

"And what if I don't?"

Drew looked surprised that Piper had come back at her. She regained her composure quickly, however.

"I'm sure Nathan wouldn't like it if he found out his new girlfriend was a total klepto. I heard that you stole a BMW and half of a jewelry store. I'm right and you know it."

Clotheslined by a popular kid. That was certainly a first. Piper bit her lip. "Fine. Just leave me alone."

Drew clapped her hands together, her bracelets making a jingling sound. She reminded Piper all too much of Sharpay and strangely enough, the Christmas scents at Bath and Body Works. "Perfect! See you around, dumpster girl!"

It was no secret that Drew was going to be a problem for Piper. She already knew that she wasn't going to not talk to Jason only because Drew wanted to eliminate Piper as a threat (which Piper didn't understand, because there was no way she was on Drew or Reyna's level), but Piper had no doubt in her mind that Drew would tell Nathan everything she knew in a heartbeat. Everything Drew knew was correct so far, something that confused and worried Piper.

Piper thought all day about what she was going to do. Finally, while she was scrubbing the floorboards after dinner with Marie hovering over her like a hungry eagle, she decided what she was going to do. It was going to be difficult, yes, but it was the right thing.

She was going to have to tell Nathan everything.


	11. Chapter Ten

**A/N: all oth references are the property of warner brothers and the cw. I don't own oth or any characters except my own.**

* * *

Marin tied her ginger curls back with a bandana and strummed her guitar quietly. It had taken entire weekends at the McDonald's drive-thru to pay for all of her instruments and college tuition despite a scholarship, but she'd managed to make it work.

It was late, but she couldn't focus on her homework. College was a real drag. All she wanted to do was play guitar or bass or anything in a band and travel across the world doing what she loved. The problem was that was the band she was in was too casual for its own good and Marin was too high-stung to be a solo act. No bands she auditioned for seemed to want her, and she was stuck with collegiate science courses in the mornings and working at a local bookstore in the evenings.

Though, Marin's musical success (or lack thereof) was the least of her worries. As always, there were more important things to focus on. Like her little brother, Chase.

Marin knew it was bad to pick favorite siblings, but Chase was definitely hers. She was more of a mother to him than their actual mother, mostly because they shared their love of science. Marin remembered the day he was born as one of her fondest memories; her nine-year-old self made a promise to him that she would always be there for him. Marin liked to think that she'd done well by it.

Suddenly, her door creaked open and Chase hurried into her room, jumped onto her bed and hid under the covers. Marin's senses were on high alert. It was that awful father of theirs again and she knew it.

And there he was now. Andrew Lewis, the image of the perfect American father on the outside, the corpse of a rotting American loser who enjoyed torturing his children and his wife to the breaking point on the inside. Marin hated her father more than she hated anything, especially because he enjoyed picking on Chase.

Andrew barged into Marin's room, a thick black belt in his hand. "You tell that damn kid to get his ass over here or else I'll have my hand so far up it that he'll be a puppet. Do you understand me?"

Marin clenched her fists. "You have no right to treat Chase this way."

"No right?" Andrew asked, his voice shaking with fury. "Damn you, Marin! How dare you tell me what I can and can't do under my own roof! This is the third time this kid has wet the bed in the past month! I'm not running a laundromat around here! He's going to have to learn to use the toilet at some point!"

"Bedwetting is a sign of emotional stress."

"Emotional stress?!" Andrew yelled. "I'll give the kid some emotional stress!" He barged past her and tore the covers off of her bed. Chase was curled up in a ball, shaking miserably. He gazed at his father with fury and sadness, anger, and betrayal. Tears fell down his cheeks. Marin turned around. She knew what was going to happen next, and she could never bear to watch it.

Once Andrew was done with the belt, he threw it on her floor and began to walk away.

"I hope you feel better about yourself," Marin snapped. "Because all you've done is hurt this family."

Andrew turned around. "Is that what you all think?"

Marin folded her arms across her chest and didn't say anything.

"I said," Andrew roared, moving toward her at an alarming speed, "Is that what you think?!"

Marin jumped out of the way, but this only seemed to anger Andrew even further. He bent over, picked up her guitar, and smashed it into her drum set. Marin couldn't help it. She screamed. The instruments that she had worked so hard for, all gone in the blink of an eye.

"I don't give a rat's ass what you think about me, Marin," Andrew growled. "But if you step another one of your ugly toes out of line, I'll kick your ass so hard you'll be in the middle of next year before you know what hit you. Do you understand me?" To make a statement, Andrew put his foot through the bass drum. "Maybe that'll teach you to keep your mouth shut."

Once he'd gone and slammed the door behind him, Marin led Chase into her bathroom. It wasn't until after he'd had his bath, was in new pajamas and had fallen back asleep in his room that Marin collapsed on her own bed that she told herself that she was allowed to cry.

Yet no tears came. She wasn't going to allow her father the satisfaction of hurting her. She was going to rise and try again.

* * *

The first campaign meeting was held at Bobby's house.

Bobby wasn't sure why Natalya always wanted to come to his house, but it had been that way ever since they'd been friends. Their story wasn't a cliche one where their parents had been best friends and they'd known each other since they'd been born. Natalya and Bobby hadn't met until third grade when Bobby's family moved from Colorado to San Francisco.

Bobby missed Colorado every single day, despite not having many friends there. He loved waking up in the morning and seeing the mountains at sunrise, the mist thick in the air. Every morning it was like waking up to a rendition of the same painting, but each morning there was a subtle change. Maybe the clouds had moved, maybe the rain soaked the mountains and the valley below. He would have given up anything and everything to go back to his old house and see the sunrise every morning.

Except he had Natalya now. She became his friend during his third week at Juno Elementary; apparently, she'd felt bad for him because he was sitting alone. What started as a guilt trip grew into an amazing friendship. They were inseparable nowadays, but Bobby felt that he was just known as Natalya's friend. He loved Natalya (as a friend and nothing more), but he wanted to be his own person. He didn't want to be tied down with Natalya for the rest of his life.

Natalya banged on the door when she arrived, carrying a large Tupperware box of cookies. Bobby reached his hand for one, but, Natalya swatted it away.

"Allow me to remind you that you are renting out my room and I expect to be paid." Natalya rolled her eyes and passed over the box. "I'll allow you to explain the missing cookies to Hank. He's not going to be happy. This is all I'm paying him with."

"Hank's feelings are none of my concern," Bobby said, shoving a cookie into his mouth. They were snickerdoodles, Bobby's favorite. He ate three more before the duo got back upstairs.

"So, I wanted to talk to you about homecoming," Natalya said, sitting on Bobby's bed and flopping down. "I think it'll be a good time to promote the campaign."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Nobody's going to pay attention during homecoming. They're going to be too busy at the dance."

Natalya smiled. "Yeah, but you won't be. So you're going to be a good friend and promote for me, okay?"

"No, I'm not."

"Why not? We haven't gone to homecoming the past two years because we thought it was silly. What's changed this year?"

Bobby narrowed his eyes. "Have you ever considered that maybe we didn't have the same view?"

Natalya gasped. "You wanted to go all this time?"

"Maybe."

"I'm so sorry!" Natalya shoved the papers into the bottom of her bag. "Never mind then. We're going to go and we're going to have fun and we can put off promoting until afterward."

Bobby wrung his hands. "There was actually someone I wanted to ask, so you don't have to go if you don't want to."

Natalya's face fell. "Who?"

"Her name's Rachel and she's in my Geometry class. We've been talking for a few weeks and I wanted to ask her out tomorrow."

"Rachel Stone? The Senior?" Natalya laughed. "No way I'm letting you take a cheerleader to homecoming."

"No. Rachel Gatina. She's really nice and really pretty. I think you guys would get along great." Bobby's eyes lit up when he said her name.

"I don't know her."

"I didn't think you would. She's not in many honors classes."

Natalya looked away. "You can't ask her out."

"Why not?"

"Because I haven't vetted her yet, of course!" Natalya smiled through her hurt. Why would Bobby choose some girl he'd just met over his best friend for his first homecoming date? What kind of sense did that make? This was not how things were supposed to work out.

Bobby laughed. "Okay, Natalya. I'll introduce you two. You're going to love her, I promise."He knew that the meeting was going to work out beautifully. His (hopefully) future girlfriend and his best friend were going to hit it off and his life was going to be awesome.

So why, Bobby wondered, did Natalya look so distraught?


	12. Chapter Eleven

**A/N: Unedited, all mistakes are mine. Happy new year :)**

* * *

Jason's Monday sucked.

It all started with Reyna. She'd informed them (very enthusiastically) that Nathan and Piper were officially a couple. Apparently, he'd taken Piper to the bay that Saturday, told her that he loved her, and the rest was history. On the bright side, Nathan seemed happier than Jason had seen him in a long time.

After failing his English test (Latin was his preferred language), Jason was very ready to go home. The rest of the day seemed to drag by. Minutes felt like hours. The simplest of questions agitated him to no end. By the end of the day, Jason felt like his head was going to explode. He was barely able to text Drew as he sped home, nearly running into a police car in his haste. Fortunately, the policeman didn't seem to care as he raced by.

Drew was waiting in her car when he got home. Jason almost hit her as he pulled into his parking spot.

"What's the matter with you?" Drew asked as he unlocked the door hastily and surveyed his house. Things were immaculate; the maid had come to clean. It didn't appear that anyone was home. Things were just the way Jason liked them.

Jason laced his hand through Drew's and led her up to his bedroom. Their time together was far from swift. Drew certainly knew how to clear his head.

"I love you," Drew sighed once they were done, kissing him gently. "I love you so much, but I'm not going to do this anymore."

Jason frowned. "What do you mean?"

"This. Us. It's not fair to me. It's not really fair to Reyna either. If you like me better than her, and I think you do, then you need to break up with her. If you like her better then you should be faithful to her. She does a lot for you."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Drew, come on. Don't be like this." He tried to slide his arm around her waist, but she jerked away.

"I'm serious, Jason. You're going to have to choose."

"I thought we agreed to be friends with benefits. No strings attached. What happened to that girl?"

Drew sighed. "That girl came to her senses."

* * *

It was Piper's night to do the dishes again.

Really, every night was her night to do the dishes, but Marie felt the need to remind her after every meal. Piper began to wonder if the only reason Marie agreed to take her in was so that she could treat Piper as a servant.

Annabeth helped her sometimes, but she was usually busy with her homework. Strangely enough, Jupiter High gave seniors more work than any other grade level.

Suddenly, Marie came into the kitchen holding the phone. She looked even more annoyed than usual. "Pack a bag," she spat.

"Huh?" Piper asked.

"Pack a bag," she said even more harshly, if that was possible. "Sally just called. You're going to your dad's for the weekend."

Piper's heart felt like it was going to soar out of her chest. She missed her father greatly, despite him not spending much time with her when she had been with him. She even missed playing any three questions.

"Your father's jet will be waiting at the airport at five on Friday afternoon, so you'd better get a ride. I guess you'll just have to wash the windows next weekend." Marie turned on her heel and walked away.

Piper smiled to herself. Any time away from Marie, even if she'd likely have to spend most of it with Jane, was time well spent.

"Your dad has a private jet?" Annabeth said, coming into view from behind one of the columns. "You never told me that."

"You never asked," Piper said quietly, engrossing herself back into the dishes.

"You're right, but I'm not the one hiding something from everybody. I don't know what it is, but I think you ought to tell me."

"Why do you think that?" Piper said, raising her voice slightly. "You don't know anything about me, and you don't need to. This is just something to get me off of my dad's back because I'll ruin his image, okay? Just stop prying into my life!"

Annabeth rubbed her temples and sighed. "Okay. Put yourself in my shoes, Piper. My parents tell me some girl is moving into our attic but they won't tell me why. Then, you turn out to be some sort of convincing kleptomaniac and since you've been here nothing between my friends and I has been the same. I'm really trying here, but if I'm going to trust you, then I need to know why you came. Because if there's a good reason, I might be able to forgive you for ruining everything."

Piper didn't meet Annabeth's stony eyes. "I don't think you could forgive me if you knew."

"I'll be the judge of that."

Piper took a deep breath and began her story. "I guess this all started at the mall."

* * *

It was another night of gardening for Leila.

She'd begun to numb her feelings by then. Marcus didn't matter anymore. The only things that did matter to her were family and her garden. Since she'd been spending more and more time in it, it looked better than it ever had. Her mother, an avid gardener as well, often helped her on the weekends. There were tons of new flowers now, and Leila's brother promised to help her build a pond when he came home from college on break.

Things were looking up indeed. That was, until someone rang the doorbell.

Leila knew it was Marcus even before she put her spade on the countertop and unlocked the door. There he was, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, a guilty expression etched on his face. Leila didn't know what to say, so she closed the door a little and hid behind it. "Can I help you?"

"Leila, I made a mistake."

"It's taken you this long to realize that?"

"Don't be like this."

"Like what?" Leila said defensively, coming from behind the door. "What am I being like?"

"Passive-aggressive."

"You'd be passive-aggressive too if your boyfriend broke up with you without a good reason. But I've moved on. I don't need you or your whining on my doorstep. If that's all you came for, have a nice night and go away before I get my hose."

Marcus sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Leila, please! What do I have to do to make things better?"

"You can't just make things better, Marcus. You coming here has reopened wounds it took me weeks to heal. Things aren't going to be the same way they were before. They can't be."

"Why not?"

Lelia looked away for a moment. "Why do you think we stayed together all that time? Why do you think we made up after all those fights before?"

"Look, I know I broke up with you and everything, but I just needed some space to sort some stuff out. Just give me another chance and I can prove to you that things have changed-"

"Answer my question," Leila said coldly.

"I don't know, Leila," Marcus said, knowing he'd been defeated. "I don't know."

"It's because we were afraid of being alone. But the thing is, I've realized in the past few weeks that being alone isn't such a bad thing. You hurt me more than you'll ever know, Marcus Ford. But I told you on the night that you broke up with me that an apology couldn't fix this. And I stand by what I said."

"And I said that we could talk about getting together in a few months that night. I never meant for this to be forever."

"Neither did I," Leila said quietly. "But now, I see what you meant when you said you needed space. I need space, too. Lots and lots of space."

"Leila," Marcus begged, "Please give me another chance."

"I'm all out of chances."

* * *

Tristan McLean lay on his bed and contemplated calling his daughter.

Things couldn't have gone worse since she'd gone. Everything was a mess. His only close advisor was Jane, but she never really had the best judgment when it came to real life problems. For example, she was always hell bent on sending his daughter away so he could focus on his ever-blossoming career.

In Tristan's opinion, the movies would always be there. Piper was the thing that would slip away. However, good parenting didn't win anyone an Oscar or pay for a Bel-Air mansion. Unfortunately, due to his devotion to acting, Piper had slipped away faster than he could have imagined. Tristan was so humiliated by his own absence in his daughter's life that he hadn't even called her this time when she'd gone away.

"Mr. McLean!" Jane's clear, efficient voice came over the intercom in his expansive bedroom. "Your daughter is in the foyer. Should I send her away?"

Tristan rocketed up and pressed the button to respond. "No, keep her there. I'll be down in a moment."

Jane turned off the intercom and sighed, turning to Piper. "Sally thought this meeting would be a good idea. I didn't. Mr. McLean has a very busy weekend and neither of us has time to tend to you."

Piper didn't let herself get upset. Jane wasn't her problem anymore. If there was a silver lining to living with Marie, it was that Jane was at least five hours away at all times.

"Dearheart!" Tristan exclaimed, hurrying down the stairs to see his daughter. "I'm so glad you're here, honey!"

Piper missed her father more than she had thought. She almost wished that she hadn't come back. Now, she had absolutely no interest in going back to San Francisco, despite her newly spawned relationship with Nathan.

"Jane, I'm going to need you to move my appointments to next week. I'd like to spend the entire weekend with my daughter."

Jane looked annoyed. "I'm sorry sir, but that's just not going to be possible. You're taping for Ellen tomorrow as well as meeting with Ms. Jackson, and on Sunday you've got your weekly meeting with your agent to discuss new auditions. There's just no way that I can put all of this off."

"Jane," Tristan said slowly, "Do you enjoy having this job?"

"Yes," Jane said, sounding very similar to a snake.

"Then you'll move everything to next week except the meeting with Sally. Got that?"

Piper could tell that Jane was surprising a scream as she stalked away.

"Geez," Tristan said, shaking his head as she walked away, "Remind me again why I hired her?"


	13. Chapter Twelve

_**Two weeks later…**_

October was a big month at Jupiter High.

Homecoming was a mere two weeks away, and with homecoming came parties. This wasn't to mention the legendary Halloween parties that occurred near the end of the month. New relationships were sprouting up by the day.

But homecoming wasn't the priority of all the students at Jupiter High. All Natalya could think about was the upcoming election. After all, it was much better than thinking about Bobby and his homecoming date turned girlfriend, Rachel Gatina.

Natalya tried her best to like Rachel, but she was just so...different. Bobby wasn't kidding when he said that Natalya wouldn't know her, but Natalya wouldn't have known Rachel if she'd wanted to. She had just moved with her parents to California from Wilmington, North Carolina. It was obvious that Rachel didn't care about her studies as much as she cared about partying, a value that Natalya didn't share.

Sadly, Rachel Gatina wasn't the main course on Natalya's plate. With election day only weeks away, the campaign stakes were high. Natalya was up in the polls, but data showed that Bryce was gaining steam. Octavian wasn't making things easier, talking about Bryce like he was a god to anyone who would listen. Which, unfortunately, was a lot of people.

Natalya was leaving the newspaper room after an interview when Bryce stopped her in the hallway. "Do you think we could talk for a second?" He looked frantic.

"Why should I talk to you?" Natalya snapped, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "You're my rival. Haven't you ever been in a campaign?"

"No," Bryce said skeptically. "To tell you the truth, I can't say that I'll be in one much longer."

Natalya rolled her eyes but kept walking. "Clearly you haven't collected any polling data, but you're doing just fine. You might even have a shot in this election."

"You don't get it," Bryce said, standing in front of her and blocking her path. "I don't want to have a shot. I don't want to do this. I'm dropping out of the race and Octavian is going to go after you."

That was enough to get Natalya to stop. "Did I hear everything you just said to me correctly?"

"Octavian has this weird plan to get back at Reyna for something, but he wasn't going to have enough time to do it before he graduated so he told me if I wanted to stay on the team I'd run for office and beat you and he'd make sure I got a permanent spot on the team." Bryce clenched his fists. "It's October, I'm losing in the polls and I'm still a benchwarmer."

Natalya grasped Bryce's wrist and yanked him into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

"Listen, Bryce. I need you to tell me when Octavian told you to run for office."

"It was over the summer. A few days into practice, right before…" He paused, but then looked guilty. "It was right before Frank got hit."

Natalya's blood was boiling. "He almost killed Frank. This guy is dangerous. He must be stopped."

"I'm done being Octavian's minion," Bryce said, leaning against the wall. "I'll tell you anything and everything I know."

"I can't do much with it," Natalya admitted. "How would you feel about exposing him?"

* * *

"So there are only three months left until the fair and I need us to coordinate outfits," Leo said.

Piper frowned down at her laptop, a gift from her father when she had gone to visit weeks ago. It had an improved camera so they could video chat. As fate would have it, Piper used her webcam to talk to Leo more than she used it to talk to her father, but she wasn't going to let him know that.

"I don't understand. Why are our outfits so important?"

"Because the judges are more likely to like me if I have a nice outfit. They're even more likely to want to give me a high score if my fabulous assistant is wearing a nice outfit too. It contributes to the aesthetic."

"First of all, what aesthetic?"

"The winning aesthetic," Leo said nonchalantly.

Piper shook her head. "Second of all, since when am I your assistant?"

"Since you agreed to go with me, of course! You, Piper McLean, are going to help me present my project."

Piper's eyes widened. "Oh, no! Leo, I don't know anything about engineering or science or impressing judges. That's your thing."

"All you've got to do is memorize some flash cards. It's easy. You can do it."

Piper still shook her head. "I'm the last person you want to do this, Leo. I'd ruin your entire project, and I know how hard you've worked for this."

"Pipes, you're my best friend. There's no one else I'd want to do this with. Please?"

Piper sighed. "Fine. But only because you're my best friend."

"Yay!" Leo exclaimed. "I'll email you my quizlet so you can study. We're going to be great, Beauty Queen!"

"I'm sure we will be," Piper said, knowing that her friend's fate was going to fall on her shoulders.

* * *

It was Thursday, and Jason was up in his room when Thalia came in looking troubled.

"Everything okay?" Jason asked, glancing up from his homework at his sister.

"Not really," Thalia admitted, sinking into Jason's beanbag. "I need to tell you something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Who am I going to tell?"

"Mom. But she can't know, so that's why I'm warning you up front. If she finds out, I'll know it was you because you're going to be the only person know knows this." Thalia stared into her lap and twiddled her thumbs.

"I promise not to tell," Jason said. "Now start talking."

Thalia took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

"What?"

"I'm pregnant," Thalia repeated. "I'm having a baby. You're going to be an uncle."

"I'm sixteen!" Jason protested.

"I'm 23," Thalia retorted. "This isn't the reaction I was expecting from you. I was expecting you to be happy."

"I am happy. I just...I don't know. I wasn't expecting this."

"Neither was I," said Thalia. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I'm leaving home."

"Where are you going?" Jason asked.

"I was thinking about moving in with Luke. If you're not too attached to being here, I'd like you to move in with me."

Jason put his head in his hands. "You couldn't pay me a billion dollars to live with Luke Castellan."

Thalia sighed. "I knew you were going to say that. I don't understand why you won't give him a chance. He's a good guy, Jason. I really like him." Thalia paused for a moment. "I think I'm going to puke."

"Not on the rug!" Jason cried, lifting his sister up and nearly tossing her into the bathroom. Since Jason's gag reflex was less than great, he left Thalia to her own devices.

Once she was done, Thalia assumed her original position in Jason's beanbag, but she looked even worse than she had before. "I'm scared," she said, fighting back tears. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Everything's going to work out okay," Jason said. But if he were being honest, he was just as scared as she was.

* * *

Following a hard-fought win on the football field, Friday's after party was even more crowded than usual.

It was held at Mike Kahale's house since his dad was out of town. Mike's place had everything that Dakota's lacked; a gigantic bar, a great pool, a large hot tub and all the impersonality of a household often inhabited by one. Marcus still liked Dakota's place better, though. Some of his best memories had been there.

He and Leila still weren't back together, but they were making strides in what Marcus felt like was the right direction. He was looking for her now, but the music was loud, people were everywhere and Marcus didn't know if Leila had even shown up.

Meanwhile, Natalya and Bryce were upstairs planning Octavian's exposure. However, it was proving very hard to keep their plans discreet, since the only method of hearing someone else was yelling.

"Tuesday's going to be it," said Bryce, talking over a gaggle of screaming sophomores.

"Tuesday's going to be shit?" Natalya called back. "Maybe for you. This is a dream come true for me."

"Well, we can't have dreams coming true for you, now can we?" Octavian yelled, suddenly inserting himself into their conversation. "What are you two doing acting so friendly so close to election day?"

"We're holding a question and answer session," Natalya said effortlessly. This was their planned cover story, and the only one skeptical at that point was Bobby. Even though he was her best friend, she couldn't let him know yet. Maybe not ever.

"That's very interesting," Octavian said, tapping his chin with his index finger. "Because I've heard that you, Bryce, are planning to drop out of the race."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bryce folded his arms and did an impressive job of looking skeptical. "I'm moving ahead in the polls. What reason would I have to drop out?"

"That's not for me to determine," said Octavian, moving closer to Bryce. "But I am here to reinforce my original plan. And if you aren't willing to be in this picture, I don't see why you should be on the football team."

"That's not yours to decide," Bryce retorted. "You're not the coach."

Octavian's lips parted into a cold smile. "We both know I get what I want. I'll keep my promise if you'll keep yours."

"Two months and no playing time," Bryce said coldly. "Looks like this is a one-sided favor. You'd better hold up on your end of the deal." He gave Octavian a threatening shove. "You'll regret it if you don't."

As Bryce stormed away, Octavian shook his head. He then turned to Natalya. "I'm going to believe you two for now. If I find out anything different, I'll have your ass in a can. Understand?"

Natalya glared at him but said nothing.

"That's what I thought." Octavian went in the other direction. As soon as she was sure that he was gone, Natalya went after Bryce.

"What are we going to do?"

Bryce shook his head. "There's no we in this. As for me, I don't know anymore."

"You're just going to let him control you like this?"

"You've never dealt with Octavian like I have."

"Bryce, you need to learn to stand up for yourself. I'm not saying this just because I want to win. I'm saying this because being able to stand up for yourself is a life lesson that will matter for a lot longer than Octavian will."

Bryce sighed. "I'll give him another week. If I don't get any playing time next game, I'm going through the with it."

Natalya nodded, but she could already feel her chance slipping away.

* * *

Marcus was sick of wandering the halls looking for Leila. He'd gotten lost three times now and the party was just starting to get out of control. He went to Michael's room to grab his jacket, but he wasn't expecting a person to be there.

At first, Marcus didn't even notice anyone was there because the lights were off, but with a few steps forward and a glance to left, Marcus' eyes were plastered on one thing.

There was a girl sitting on the window seat, her silhouette enhanced by the soft glow of light through the window she was leaning against. Her hair was blonde and fell in ringlets along her face. Marcus thought she looked angelic, her age a contributing factor. She couldn't have been older than a grade-skipping sophomore, but she was likely a freshman.

She glanced at him with sad eyes. There was another thing about her; Marcus couldn't tell what color her eyes were. He suspected it had to do with the darkness, but when he saw her eyes he was reminded of the story of Joseph in the bible. He imagined Joseph's coat of many colors to resemble the girl's eyes. They were many colors at once yet her eyes were colorless. It was a paradox; a beautiful, mysterious paradox.

"Is this your room?" She asked. Her voice was tearful. "I just needed to be alone for a few minutes. I'll leave if you want it back." She looked expectant, but Marcus didn't know what to say.

"I...are you okay?" Marcus's voice cracked more than he would ever like to admit.

She looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You're crying," he said. "Are you okay?"

At first, she looked indignant. Her demeanor quickly changed and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm not okay. I don't think I'll ever be okay."

"What's the matter?" Marcus asked, sitting next to her. He hadn't talked to a freshman since he was a freshman himself, but the girl intrigued him. He wanted to know everything there was to know about her.

"This is going to sound really childish," she said, tucking her hair behind her ears. "My boyfriend broke up with me tonight. Over text."

"Oh, wow. I'm really sorry." Marcus wondered if this was how Lelia felt when he'd broken up with her. True, he'd done it in person and they were technically broken up before, but if his words affected her that much, Marcus would have thought of another way. Maybe he wouldn't have done it at all.

"What's done is done, right?" The girl mumbled. "In the grand scheme of things, I guess he doesn't matter. But I don't want to look at the grand scheme of things. I want to be closed-minded and I want us to be us again."

"That's understandable," Marcus said. "In any case, that guy was an idiot for breaking up with you and a coward for not doing it in person."

The girl gave him a small smile. "Thanks for that." She began to gather her things. "I'm sorry for coming into your room without your permission."

"This isn't my room," Marcus admitted, "But I know Mike and I'm sure he wouldn't mind. We're on the team together."

"You're on Varsity?" the girl asked. She sounded impressed. "What's your number?"

"I'm 36."

"I've seen you," the girl said. "You're going places. Have you gotten any offers yet?"

"Yes, actually. From USC."

"I wouldn't expect anything less. You ought to take it."

"I'll wait and see what else comes up," Marcus said. "It's still early in the season and there's still a lot of recruiters coming to see us."

"What's your name?" the girl asked.

"Marcus. What's yours."

"Lacy."

"You have a beautiful name, Lacy."

"Thank you." Lacy blushed and looked away. "I'd better get out of here."

"You look a little young to drive," said Marcus, raising his eyebrow.

"I am. I'm only a freshman, but my house is only a few blocks from here."

"Absolutely not. I'll take you home. I was getting ready to leave too."

"But I just met you!" Lacy protested.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?"

"Well, no…"

"I passed my driving test just fine."

"I'm sure you did, but-"

"Then it's settled." He tugged Lacy through the hordes of people out to the front where his car was parked.

"You sure you're an okay driver?" She asked nervously. "Bad things seem to happen to me on Fridays."

"I guess I can see what you mean," said Marcus. "But nothing's going to happen to you. I'll keep at least one hand on the wheel if it makes you feel better." When Lacy went pale, Marcus said "Only joking. I drive with both hands."

After they'd been driving a while, Marcus remembered that he was supposed to be dropping her off.

"We passed my house about two miles ago," Lacy answered when he asked.

"Well, why didn't you say something?"

"I liked hanging out with you. You're really easy to talk to and you don't care that I'm a freshman. I mean I've only known you for about fifteen minutes and you're the closest thing I've had to a friend in years." Lacy took a deep breath and stared out the window. "There's a place you can turn back around up here, and I've got money for gas if you need it-"

"Lacy," Marcus said quietly, "Do you get out much?"

"Never. That was the first party I'd ever been to."

Marcus kept his eyes focused on the road as he sped onto the freeway. "Well, that's certainly going to change tonight."

* * *

For the first time in forever, Nathan wasn't at the party.

He was at Annabeth's house helping Piper do her chores. He never really liked Michael Kahale and since the party was, according to one of Jason's text messages, "crawling with freshmen", Nathan wasn't too disappointed that he'd missed out.

Still thought, it was a testament to how much he hated partying and how much he liked hanging out with Piper. Nathan had never realized how exciting washing dishes and changing sheets could be. The only problem was Marie, Annabeth's stepmom. She was awful to Piper, though she treated Nathan like royalty. It may have been just because he was a guest, but there seemed to be some deep-rooted resentment between the two.

The phone rang soon after all the chores had been completed. It was a number that Nathan didn't recognize, but one of his oldest brothers, Jordan, often called from the different hospital phones while he was doing rotations, so he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Is this Nathan Lewis?"

"Yes. Who are you?"

"My name is Doctor Ramirez. I'm calling about Marcus Ford. He had you listed as an emergency contact on his driver's license and we aren't able to reach his parents."

Nathan's stomach sunk through the floor. At the same time, he was bursting with pride. Marcus trusted him enough to put him as an emergency contact on his driver's license?

"What's the matter? Is he okay?"

A pause.

"Do you think you could come down to the hospital, Mr. Lewis?"

"Do you think you could tell me what's wrong with Marcus, Doctor Ramirez?"

"There's been an accident." That was all Nathan needed to hear. He assured the doctor that he'd be there as fast as he could and nearly bolted out of the attic.

"What's the matter?" Piper asked. To Nathan, her voice sounded distant and far away. "Where are you-?"

Nathan didn't hear the last part of Piper's question. He was already gone.

* * *

Lacy's eyes opened. Blinding white. She squinted so she could protect her eyes get a better view. Soft blue walls, fake mattress, itchy white blanket. There was an ancient TV mounted into the ceiling playing Casablanca. She must have been in the hospital. But why?

It all came rushing back in an instant. The party, the drive, the diner Marcus had taken her to, swimming in the lagoon, the car going the wrong way and the blood all over the highway.

Lacy looked around. Her bed was the only one in the room. Where was Marcus? Was he even alive? Her heart was heavy with guilt. The only time she'd come close to having a friend and she'd blown it. Friends usually didn't get each other killed.

The door opened. A nurse and a police officer came in and stood at the edge of her bed.

"Ms. Voltaire?" The nurse asked gently, completely butchering her last name. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Lacy croaked. "Where's Marcus? When can I go home?"

"We need you to file an incident report, Miss," The policeman said, whipping out a notepad and a pen. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was riding in the car and Marcus was driving. There was a car going the wrong way and I tried to warn Marcus but it was too late." Her voice faltered. "Is he okay?"

The nurse and the policeman looked at each other. "He's in very serious condition," the nurse said. "We aren't sure if he's going to make it."

Lacy didn't know what to say. She was too stunned, to angry at herself, too angry at the driver of the car.

"Do you remember anything else, Lacy?" The policeman asked.

"Yes," She said with renewed certainty. "The car was black." That was the last thing she said before she slumped against the pillows and the ECG let out a very long beep.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**sorry for the slow update! I've been revising this story, and I'm up to chapter 8 now. I recommend going back and reading the earlier chapters as I have changed a few things/made things more consistent.**

* * *

Marcus woke up three days later.

The first thing he noticed was that he was hooked up to all sorts of machines. They went through his nose, through his arms, through his mouth. Probes were stuck all over his body. He was so tangled up in wires that he felt like a mummy. Marcus tried to talk but the tube blocked his throat. He couldn't muster even a whimper.

He wondered where Lacy was. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was swimming with her in the Lake Merritt. Before that, he'd taken her paintballing, and before that, they'd gone to a diner. He remembered that the first hints of sunlight were just beginning to emerge when he was taking Lacy back home and that the faint light caught on to the water droplets still resting in her golden hair. Marcus tried to remember what happened after that, but he came up with nothing.

Since he was sitting in the hospital, Marcus figured something had gone terribly wrong.

He glanced at the foot of his bed. The room was dark and someone was sitting in the chair. As the room came into focus, Marcus realized it was Nathan, fast asleep. He looked so relaxed and calm. Marcus hadn't seen his friend so at ease in a very long time.

Instead of waking Nathan up, he pressed the call button on the side of the bed. A nurse came in and checked his vitals.

"We didn't think you were going to bounce back," the nurse said softly. "Your friend is having a rough time."

Marcus pointed to Nathan in confusion, but the nurse shook her head. "Not him. The one who was in the car with you. She gave some information to the police and went right back out. The medic said that the poor girl went right through the windshield, but she managed to cut you out of the rubble before she collapsed. You were both very lucky."

"No," Marcus moaned, but it wasn't audible. Thankfully, the nurse understood him.

"You'll be off the ventilator in a few days. We can't do it all at once or else you might go into shock."

 _Might go into shock?_ Marcus thought. _I'm already in it._

* * *

Marcus and Nathan had been best friends for years. It had always been Marcus, Nathan, and Jason, but Marcus and Nathan had a special bond. Their parents had been very good friends prior, and when they had babies at the same time, it was only natural that Marcus and Nathan would become friends too.

They'd been through everything together. They knew each other's deepest darkest secrets. The two were practically brothers; members of each other's families. Marcus's father (when he was around) claimed that Nathan was his favorite child. Nathan's mother said that she'd adopt Marcus in an instant.

However, the two had grown increasingly distant as they'd gotten older. They were still best friends, sure, but their interests changed. Marcus was spending lots of time with Leila and Nathan was looking toward the future. Dissolve of their relationship seemed on the horizon. But that was before the crash.

Even though Nathan didn't want to, he left Piper in an instant for his best friend. It didn't seem fair; Marcus had left him hanging while he was out with Leila for years. Now that Nathan had a girlfriend, Marcus was nearly killed and Nathan's brotherly subconscious forced him to be at Marcus' side.

It was awful seeing his best friend in the hospital. Marcus was never sick, so seeing him hooked up to machines like a vegetable made Nathan's stomach churn. Marcus was on life support. If he didn't wake up in five days, they would pull the plug. As much as it pained him to be there, Nathan knew he had to. He hadn't left Marcus's side since he'd been admitted.

Piper came by every day to bring him food and homework. She sat with him a while usually, sometimes made him get up and go outside. It was hard to remember that there was another world out there sometimes; Marcus's room didn't have a window and he had barely looked at his phone. His parents didn't even know where he was.

Nathan's eyes opened on the evening of the third day. The first thing he noticed was the awful cramp in his neck from sleeping in the awful plastic chair for such a long time. The second thing he noticed was that Marcus was awake.

He looked tired and annoyed. His eyes were glazed over and his skin was translucent. Marcus might have been awake, but he didn't look good.

Nathan didn't say anything at first. He didn't need to. All he had to do was walk over to Marcus's bed, lie next to him and let his head rest on his shoulder. Somehow they both understood everything without making a sound.

* * *

It was a rough week for the Jupiter High Wolves.

With Marcus still in the hospital and Nathan not returning, they managed to lose their first game by a touchdown. The party that week was at Dakota's but not many showed up and those who did were not in the mood to have a good time. After a while, most just gave up and either went home or got drunk.

On Saturday, Jason woke up early due to the fact that he'd actually gotten nine hours of sleep. He decided to make use of the day and go out to do his homework. His favorite internet cafe was in Emeryville, so he made the trip there and brought his laptop.

While he was taking a break from working on his History essay, he noticed someone he knew walking down the street. It was Piper, but she was acting very strange. She was walking slowly, then she would stop, look around and keep going. She did this four times before she sat on a bench and tapped her foot against the pavement impatiently. Jason wondered what she was so anxious about.

Within a few minutes, a guy approached her. He looked about eighteen or nineteen, but just by looking at his eyes his age could have easily been doubled. He was tall and muscular with tan skin and dark hair. He wore a leather jacket and black jeans. Jason was across the street, and already he could tell that he was the type of person that people wanted to be around. As soon as Piper saw him, she jumped up and threw her arms around him. He kissed her forehead and spun her around.

Jason didn't know what to think. What was Piper doing? She wasn't single at all! Sure, Jason was (kind of) having an affair, but he knew for a fact that Piper liked Nathan. Why would she cheat on him?

Jason decided not to jump to conclusions just yet because everything deserved an explanation. But Nathan was his friend and he'd gone through too much already. He wasn't going to let his friend get hurt again.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**all revisions for this book are complete! i may not be updating for a while because i plan for the next chapter to be pretty long (about 6k words likely), so please stay tuned! in the meantime, enjoy this chapter and be on the lookout for a new story from me :)**

* * *

"I missed you so much!" Piper exclaimed. "Dad asked about you when I visited. He wants to see you."

Derek sighed and gave her a wary smile. "I know. I miss him too, but the Bay Area loves the company. I'm totally booked for like, the next five months."

Piper rested her head on her brother's shoulder. Although he was only 20, he'd gone places in his life. Derek was extremely smart; he'd graduated high school at 15 and graduated Stanford with a bachelor's at 18. While he was getting his master's online, he traveled around the country as the C.E.O and founder of a Silicon Valley tech startup that had gone huge.

His company was going from the Valley to Austin later the next year, but during the moving process, the headquarters were to be located in San Francisco. Piper was very excited. She'd missed her brother a lot in the past few years. She was happy to have him back.

"I hear you have a boyfriend," Derek said, a hint of disapproval in his voice. "I don't think I approve of you seeing boys at such a young age."

"Derek," Piper said, "I'm sixteen. I'm not young."

"That's what you think."

"This is coming from the one who made a million dollars at 19."

"Touché." Derek threw his arm around his sister. "I really missed you a lot, Piper."

"I missed you too," Piper replied, hoping that her brother's presence would make her stay in San Francisco a little bit easier.

* * *

Homecoming week.

Marcus was out of the hospital, but Lacy was not. He hadn't gone by to see her either. He couldn't help but feel responsible for all of it. He figured since he'd almost killed her, Lacy probably wanted nothing to do with him.

Leila came and sat with him during lunch. Rather, she came and sat very close to him during lunch.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," she said. "I was really worried."

"You didn't come to visit me," Marcus said cooly. "No one did, and I can't say I expected anything more than what I got."

"I'm sorry, but we did have a lot of work to do last week. It was hard for me, too. I didn't want to see you like that."

"Oh." Marcus continued to eat.

"I heard there was a girl in the car with you," said Leila. "Can I ask why?"

"She needed a ride home and I had a car. It wasn't a big deal."

Leila folded her arms across her chest. "Do I know her?"

"Probably not. She's a freshman."

"If she's a freshman, why were you guys out until 5 am?"

Marcus rolled his eyes. "I didn't ask for an interrogation."

"I didn't ask for you to treat this relationship like a revolving door. You act like you want to get back together and then you turn around and pull shit like this. If you don't want to be together, stop stringing me along."

Marcus sighed heavily. "We're friends. Friends hang out. There's no reason for you to be jealous, especially since we're not dating. And you're one to talk, Leila. You've been stringing me along for weeks. I've done everything I can to please you and this is what my efforts have amounted to."

Leila looked convicted but still angry. "I need you to look me in the eye and tell me that she doesn't mean anything to you."

"I can't do that," Marcus said. "Lacy is my friend and I care about her."

Leila sighed. "If you can't promise me that, then I can't promise we will get back together again. It's me or her, Marcus. I hope you know the right girl to choose." She gave him one more hard look before getting up and walking away.

* * *

It was not only Homecoming season at Jupiter High, but science fair season as well.

All students in Chemistry were required to complete a project and enter into the school fair with a partner. As fate would have it, Jason and Piper were paired up to work together.

"I know what you did," Jason said on Tuesday as they were researching in the library. "I saw you over the weekend."

Piper looked very confused. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"I think you are," Jason countered. It was on Sunday morning. Who was that guy you were talking to?"

Piper gave him an angry look. "Have you been following me around?"

"No," Jason said quickly. "But I happened to look on. I think you're a good person, Piper, but I will not let you break Nathan's heart. He goes through enough already. If you're not willing to stop seeing that guy, I'm going to tell him and I won't feel bad about it."

Piper laughed. Jason almost forgot that he was mad at her for a minute. Her laugh was beautiful, just like every other part of her.

"That was my big brother, silly. He just moved here and I wanted to show him around. He owns a company here."

Jason blushed. "Oh. You never mentioned that you had a sibling."

"Well, you never asked."

They worked in silence for a while.

"Look," Jason said, "I'm sorry about what happened earlier."

"You don't need to apologize. I guess that probably did look kind of shady." Piper blushed softly. "It's really nice of you to look out for Nathan like that."

"Of course," Jason said easily. "He's one of my best friends. I would never want him to get hurt."

Jason knew he would be upset if someone was cheating on Nathan. He was cheating on Reyna with Drew. How was Reyna going to feel if she found out?

* * *

Friday was a perfect day.

The October air was crisp and cool. The sun was bright and clear in the cloudless sky. The weather matched the mood of the students. Friday was the date of the homecoming football game. It was also the time when the homecoming court would be announced.

Annabeth always thought homecoming was silly. The only people that ever won were snobby popular kids that everyone forgot about by the time they graduated college. It was just one big popularity contest, which certainly wasn't fair. Annabeth hated homecoming so much that she had never attended the dance.

Of course, now that she was a senior, Reyna convinced her to go to the dance. She wasn't going with a date because she was still dating Percy, even though they hadn't spoken since their fated video chat the month previously. She wasn't even sure if Sally had given birth yet.

That debacle was at the top of her list of "things that aren't fair". Sure, it was fair that Percy wanted to be there for the birth of his first sibling. Annabeth remembered how happy she was when the twins were born. What Annabeth didn't understand was why Percy was pushing her away. All she wanted to do was help him and be there for him. Why didn't he understand that?

Of course, there was the lingering thought in the back of her mind that Percy was with someone else in New York and he didn't want their paths to cross accidentally. In fact, Annabeth had a girl in mind. Her name was Rachel. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She was Percy's best friend from New York. The girl was an artist, but her parents were very wealthy so she went to prep school. Annabeth knew her because the three went to summer camp together every year.

There were plenty of problems with Rachel. The first was that she liked Percy; she had told Annabeth a few years prior. She had even kissed him and tried to seduce him. That made Annabeth furious. Of course, her efforts hadn't prevailed back then, but what if they had now? Rachel and Percy were alone in New York and Annabeth was stuck in San Francisco. She never wanted to assume that Percy was cheating on her, but she couldn't be naive. There was always the possibility.

Since Piper was staying at school to help the team at Nathan's request that afternoon, Annabeth decided to stop by Jason and Thalia's house. It had been a while since she'd talked to her friend and if she trusted anyone to give her advice, it was Thalia. When Thalia answered the door, however, she looked uneasy and unlike her usual confident self.

"Is this a bad time?" Annabeth asked.

"No. You can come in. Do you want anything?"

"Are you okay?" Anyone who knew Annabeth knew that she was not one to beat around the bush.

Thalia looked pale and ragged; her eyes were sunken and glazed, her overgrown bangs flopped into her face and she moved slowly and cautiously.

"No," She said finally. "Things aren't okay, Annabeth. I need to tell you something. Jason's the only other one who knows, but you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"You haven't told Luke either?"

"No. I don't plan on telling him until I absolutely have to. I plan to keep this a secret as long as possible, but I don't have much time left."

"Thalia, you're scaring me. What's going on?"

"I'm pregnant. It's Luke's baby. I'm leaving and I'm going to live with him."

Annabeth didn't know what to say. On one hand, she was very excited for her friend. She knew how much Thalia wanted to be a mother and avenge her own. On the other hand, Annabeth was nervous. Now didn't seem like a great time for Thalia to be a parent. She was still heavily dependent on her mother, and while Luke did have a job, it probably wasn't enough to support the three of them. Annabeth had no idea what to do, and by the look on Thalia's face, she didn't either.

"Congratulations," Annabeth said quietly.

"Thanks. When I told Jason, I thought he was going to die." Thalia gave a bitter laugh. "These last couple of weeks have been rough. It's like the world turned upside down."

"I'm sure," Annabeth admitted. She sat and talked and listened to Thalia for a long time. It was halfway into the second quarter of the game before she realized she was late. It was a nice distraction, though. Focusing on someone else's problems, in Annabeth's opinion, was much better than focusing on your own.

* * *

There was a long time before Bobby needed to be back in the locker room for practice, so he and Rachel were wandering around the school. It was completely decorated, with every inch of free wall space covered in purple and white handmade posters and letters of encouragement to the players. Purple streamers hung expectantly from the ceiling. The already purple lockers were peppered with silver splatters. Purple and silver confetti littered the floor.

Rachel was wearing his jersey and would be draped in his letterman jacket later. He couldn't believe he had found such an amazing girl. She was everything Bobby could have hoped for. The only problem was that Natalya didn't seem to like her. Of course, she put on a happy and welcoming face in front of Rachel and she seemed to have bought it thus far, but Bobby knew Natalya better than anyone. There was nothing but discontent behind her eyes.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Rachel asked him, lacing her hand through his larger one.

"Of course. Anything you want."

"What's going on between you and Natalya?"

Oh no. Rachel must have been putting on a front, too. She was jealous of his best friend. That made for two very big problems.

"She's my best friend. We've been really close ever since elementary."

"I see. I can tell you really admire her."

"Of course. She's the best friend I've ever had. I love her."

Rachel looked appalled, and Bobby wished he had chosen different words to describe Natalya.

"I didn't mean in a romantic way. I meant-"

"Bobby, I can't pretend anymore. She likes you and I don't like that she likes you."

"I don't feel anything for her, Rachel. I promise. We're just close friends. Besides, I'm pretty sure if she liked me, she would have made a move by now. She's had eight years, after all."

Rachel pursed her lips. "I guess. I know she's your best friend and I know you guys are close, but if anything suspicious happens between you two...well, I'll put it in clear terms. If you care about this relationship you're going to have to stop seeing her."

"Nothing suspicious is going to happen between us," Bobby said firmly. "But I'm not going to let our relationship get in the way of my friendship with Natalya.

"I see," Rachel said. "I'm glad we cleared that up."

"What do you mean by that?" Bobby asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

"I'm glad I see where your loyalties lie now."


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**first of all, thank you all for being so amazingly patient with this chapter! i hope you all will like the longer chapter. secondly, i have received some of the most amazing comments and messages over the past few weeks, and i would like to thank you for your encouragement and support. please know that your kindness has not gone unnoticed and it has inspired me to continue writing every day! thank you all so much and please enjoy! i am working on another long chapter but i hope to have it out sooner than this one.**

* * *

The beautiful weather of the day transitioned to the evening. Although it was a cold night, the stadium was packed. Every seat was filled. People were starting to have to sit on the opposing side and in the aisles.

Piper, luckily, got a very good seat. Nathan had commissioned her help with the water earlier that afternoon, so she decided to just stay until the game. Hauling jugs wasn't very fun, but being around Nathan was.

Piper found it fascinating that Jason was so protective of Nathan, despite Nathan's claim that Marcus was his best friend. Piper thought that her boyfriend needed to reconsider his choice. True, Marcus had just gotten out of the hospital and was still trying to catch up, but he didn't seem like much of a friend to Nathan before then. But Piper's opinion might have been based on the fact that she was just partial to Jason.

Piper really liked Nathan. She could go as far to say that she loved him. But Jason was still there, and whenever she thought of him, she couldn't focus on anything or anyone else. It was awful that she had a crush when she had a boyfriend that she adored, but it was what it was.

The game was going to be exciting, but Piper was much more excited for the dance on Saturday. Nathan had asked her when Marcus was in the hospital. She'd just brought him food on the second day.

 _"You need to go outside," She insisted._

 _"No. I need to be here for him when he wakes up. Or if he doesn't._

 _"Nathan, you're going to go crazy. It's been three days. Do you even know what time it is? Do your parents even know you're here?"_

 _"Time doesn't matter."_

 _She sat in the stiff chair next to him. "Do you think Marcus would want you to sit here and stare at him for days on end?"_

 _Nathan didn't say anything in response._

 _"It'll only be for a few minutes, I promise. I'll go with you."_

 _"Fine." Nathan rose slowly, stretched, and followed her outside. It was dark, which was a little unsettling. It was dark when he had come in three days earlier, too. He knew time had passed, but it almost felt like no time had passed at all._

 _The air stung his skin and eyes as the revolving door spit them out of the hospital. There was a paved walkway that led to a rocky stretch of the beach. They sat on a bench that overlooked the water. Nathan could see the reflection of the city in the water._

 _"It's a nice night, don't you think?" Piper asked._

 _"Yeah," Nathan muttered. He glanced over at his girlfriend and knew he wasn't being fair to her. She'd brought him food for three days. She came to check up on him. She'd even forced him to get outside. Piper cared for him, and that was more than could be said about a lot of people in his life. That was more than could be said about his own family._

 _"Can I ask you something?"_

 _"Anything," Piper said with a smile._

 _"Will you go to homecoming with me?"_

 _Piper's eyes widened with question and awe. "I've never been to homecoming before. What's it like?"_

 _"Very fun. I know you'll love it."_

 _"I trust your expertise, then."_

 _Nathan slid his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. They both sat there for a long time, listening to the water and the sounds of the city._

Since then, they had certainly grown closer. If Nathan wasn't at Annabeth's, Piper was at Nathan's. Piper liked to be around Nathan's family. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. Nathan's mom didn't make her do any chores and Nathan's siblings were lively and joyful. There was just one problem; Nathan's father.

Piper had never met Andrew Lewis, but Nathan and his siblings spoke of him with such hatred and bitterness, Piper wasn't sure she ever wanted to meet him. She knew that out of all the siblings, Marin hated him the most. Piper knew he was mean to Chase, bust she wasn't exactly sure what Andrew did. Piper wished she could help, but the entire family was insistent on keeping things under wraps.

The game that evening wasn't rowdy or wild like Piper expected it to be. There was still lots of school spirit and excitement, but there was a calm focus about the crowd. With every play there was silence. It seemed to be beneficial, however. The wolves were murdering the other team. They steamrolled the defense, refused to let the offense get a touchdown, and looked great doing it.

After their very obvious win, Nathan and Piper went to the party. Yet again, it wasn't being held at Dakota's, but at Tucker's. Tucker was a Junior, but he had scouts lined up for miles waiting to get him at their school. Usually a Junior wouldn't get much attention from anyone, but since Tucker's family owned a mansion and his parents were out on vacation for the next two weeks in Rome, this gave Tucker plenty of time to throw an amazing party, gain credibility, and pay the maids a hefty sum of money to clean everything up before his parents noticed anything.

The party was operating under controlled chaos, but by the time Nathan and Piper arrived, it was flirting with falling into chaos. Things weren't going awry yet, but the slightest hints of disaster were beginning to present themselves.

Octavian and his friends occupied an obviously exclusive corner and complained (loudly) about how much bigger their houses were, how much longer their parents went on vacation and how much more epic the parties that they threw were. Most of the things that spilled out of their mouths were alcohol-laced lies and exaggerations. Nathan knew better than to get caught up in that. There was one thing that concerned him, though. Bryce, a junior, was sitting next to Octavian, but there was another junior sitting next to Bryce, which was unprecedented. The junior was Natalya, and the worst part was that Bryce had his arm snaked tightly around her waist.

Nathan passed quietly without saying anything, but he wondered what his friend was thinking.

* * *

Bobby knew Natalya was the smartest person he'd ever met. Tonight, however, he was questioning her common sense.

Rachel did apologize after the game, letting him know that he looked amazing on the field and that it wasn't her place to judge how he treated his best friend. Things went great after they arrived at the party. Rachel went off with some of her friends and Bobby decided to find Natalya.

He found her, all right. He found her with Octavian and Bryce.

They were in the middle of an exclusive but dense group of seniors. Bryce and Natalya were sitting in the middle, right next to Octavian. He looked like he was about to address the group, so Bobby slipped into the corner and made himself practically invisible.

"I'm very proud to announce that our good friend Bryce will, as of Monday, be the only person running for Student Council President next year!" Octavian motioned back to Bryce and gained light applause from the group.

"Natalya was generous enough to drop out of the race for us so that our agenda could be fulfilled." Octavian chuckled. "She wasn't an easy one to convince, let me tell you. I'd like to thank you all for your generous contributions. We couldn't have made it here without you!"

"Ten thousand dollars is enough to make a girl change her mind!" Natalya piped in. There was a round of polite laughter. Bobby felt like he was going to be sick. How could Natalya throw away her biggest aspiration for cash?

After a while, the group disbanded. Octavian went outside, but Natalya and Bryce drifted dangerously close to where Bobby was standing.

"Do you think he believed it?" Natalya asked frantically.

"I think we've finally got him. I hope you haven't spent any of the money because we have to give it back."

Natalya pouted playfully. "But it's ten thousand dollars!"

Bryce laughed, sticking his hands in his pockets. "You know, I could give you ten thousand dollars right now. I could give you anything you wanted." He moved closer to Natalya. Bobby's fists clenched in rage. Natalya was like his sister. He did not want that boy near her or around her or talking to her or touching her…

"I'm sure you could," Natalya said calmly, inching away from him. "Is everything ready for tomorrow?"

Bryce nodded, looking a little dejected. "I'll pick you up at six thirty. Apparently, we're all going out to dinner before the dance."

"Disgusting," Natalya said, shaking her head. "I guess it's all part of the game.

"Do you need a ride?" Bryce asked quickly. "I mean, I was just about to head out, and I figured you might want to rest before tomorrow.

"That's okay. I want to stay for a bit. You go on."

"See you tomorrow," he said, waving goodbye.

Bobby hoped Natalya knew what she was doing because he knew Bryce meant nothing but trouble.

* * *

The pyramid was starting to crumble and the freshmen were caving in.

At the start of the party, they'd all filtered into the basement and engaged in whatever freshmen did to pass the time (which, in the eyes of the upperclassmen, consisted of nothing important). One thing led to another, and someone ended up getting thrown out the window and smashing his head on the sidewalk. The guy had been rushed to the hospital, and most of the freshmen had left, but there were still a few drunk stragglers filtering their way into the general population and, as a class, making a fool of themselves.

They hadn't tainted the pool, however. Tucker's mansion had a spa with a hot tub and a gigantic pool. Neither had many people because most didn't bring a swimsuit, but Reyna remembered that there was going to be a pool and reminded him that was standing in the hallway. Reyna had asked him to wait for her there while she went to change.

He was sore from the game earlier that evening. He was tired and ready to go home. He didn't want to waste his time here and he didn't see why Reyna wanted to, either. He would much rather go home with her and watch movies or something. Jason knew they had to keep up appearances, but they'd be out again tomorrow, and Jason figured those were enough appearances.

Then, Piper came down the hall. She was wearing a green swimsuit and her ponytail curled excellently down her back. Strangely enough, she was wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night.

"What are you doing here?" She asked softly.

"Waiting for Reyna." Jason stared at the ceiling. It was a mosaic of Venus and Jupiter. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting for Nathan." A group of Sophomores who had been in the pool passed them, and Piper looked like she was trying to sink into the wall. Jason eyed her worriedly.

"What are you doing? Why are you wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night?"

Piper looked around the corner. "Some people happened to recognize me from somewhere."

Jason frowned. "What are you talking about, Piper? Are you high?"

"Sure," she said. "But that's not the problem."

"I beg to differ. You're talking like you're Hannah Montana or something."

She looked around the corner again. "Yeah, here's the thing. That wouldn't be too far off base.

"You're a popstar?" Jason remembered Natalya telling him that Bobby thought that Piper was a model.

"Hell no!" Piper exclaimed. "I can't sing to save my life. It's not me who's famous. It's my dad."

"Your dad is a popstar?"

"No. He's famous. Really famous."

Jason struggled to think. He couldn't remember any famous people with daughters named Piper, but he wasn't sure what to think about her anymore. This was either an extremely elaborate scheme from a lightweight or a very strangely true story.

"My last name, Jason! Think!"

Jason felt pretty bad. He didn't know her that well. He didn't even know what period she had English, let alone her last name. Luckily, Reyna and Nathan rounded the corner next, so he didn't have to think about it anymore. Nathan kissed Piper. Jason pretended to feel nothing.

At least he had Reyna. Since Drew's meltdown, he'd been completely faithful to her. It felt nice, but it felt peculiar as well; like the whole act was going to come crumbling down on top of him and he wasn't going to be able to do anything about it. Except this time it wasn't an act; it was the real thing. Although he was happy to be with Reyna, she wasn't Piper and she never would be. Jason couldn't fault her for not being someone that she wasn't.

He couldn't say he missed being with Drew, but he did miss talking to her. When they weren't tangled in each other's sheets they were fairly good friends. Jason and Drew had some very meaningful conversations with each other and as a teenager, meaningful conversations were the closest anyone was going to get to nirvana. But Drew had been ignoring Jason for weeks now. She didn't meet his gaze when he looked at her, she avoided him at all costs and she flirted with a plethora of different guys.

"We should go to the pool, Jason," Reyna said quietly. "It's really warm tonight, and I think it would be nice."

"Good idea," Jason said. "Piper, Nathan, do you want to join us?"

Both nodded, and the quartet walked down the hall into the pool room. The water was clear and deep, and there were only a few swimmers. Piper placed her sunglasses on the edge of the pool, tied her hair into a bun, and slipped in, not making a splash. Reyna followed her in, as did Jason. Nathan was the only one who didn't copy the others. His feet drifted cautiously in the water, but that was all.

Piper looked worried. "The water isn't cold. You don't need to be afraid."

"I don't really like swimming," Nathan admitted. "I'm fine right here."

Piper still looked upset. "Are you really going to leave me to be a third wheel?" Nathan nodded. Piper gave him a sad smile.

Jason knew Nathan couldn't swim. He had fallen into a pool as a baby and never gotten over his fear of water. Of course, Jason wasn't about to humiliate his friend in front of Piper.

Reyna was floating on her back, but she was turning in a very tight circle around Jason as if she were marking her territory. Jason figured she probably was, so he held out his hand and laced it through hers. She didn't have anything to worry about. Piper was very beautiful, but she was taken. Jason had a beautiful girlfriend already who loved him a lot. It was about time he returned the favor.

Piper sunk underwater for a few seconds and came back up. Her hair had come undone and it was slick and wet as it draped down her shoulders. She perched on the pedestal in the middle of the pool and redid her hair. Jason stared at her. He couldn't help himself. He wished she was anyone's but Nathan's. Nathan and Piper were a perfect fit, which made it even harder to bear.

* * *

Nathan thought Jason was his best friend.

He knew Piper was beautiful. He knew Piper was out of his league. He knew other guys looked at her and wished they were him. It was just what came with being Piper's boyfriend. By then, he was pretty used to it.

Nathan knew Jason was staring at Piper. He saw his breathing labor when he gazed in her direction. He saw the bulge in his shorts when Reyna was right next to him. Nathan thought it was disgusting. It was enough to make him want to jump in the pool, throw his arms around his girlfriend and yell at Jason until he went away, or maybe hold Jason underwater until he couldn't see or think about anything.

Of course, he would never do that. First of all, there was absolutely no way that Nathan was getting in that pool. Secondly, he didn't want Piper to feel smothered or like he was being too protective. He would hate for Piper to be possessive of, and Nathan was a strong believer in treating people the way he wanted to be treated.

But it had backfired on him, too. He'd treated Jason with nothing but respect and dignity. He'd always been there for him and never wronged him once. How had Jason repaid his years of loyalty? By lusting after his girlfriend.

Piper hopped off the pedestal and swam over to Nathan, pulling herself out of the water just enough to plant a kiss on his cheek. "I wish you were in here with me," she whispered. "But I won't force you. Just let me know when you're ready to go."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could sense Jason burning with jealousy. Nathan couldn't help but feel satisfied.

* * *

Annabeth had skipped the game.

She'd missed catching up with Thalia so much that she decided she was better off just going home and finishing up her college application essays. She'd been working on them constantly and consistently since September.

It was late before she decided to take a break and read for a bit in her desk chair while listening to some music. Like Piper's desk, hers did not face the door, but her window. When a car parked outside the house, Annabeth didn't pay any attention to it, figuring it was one of Marie's friends. A few minutes later, someone opened the door and slipped into her room. Again, Annabeth didn't notice.

After a while, her timer went off and Annabeth took off her headphones. Something was different, though. She could sense it. It was almost like someone else was in the room, sitting behind her. She could hear breathing and figured it was one of the twins as she spun around. She nearly fell out of her chair.

Percy Jackson was laying on her pillows with his legs crossed over each other. He was reading one of the architecture books from the nightstand.

If it had been under any other circumstances, Annabeth would have scolded Percy for coming into her room with his dirty shoes on or for folding the pages in her books. But today, she couldn't believe her eyes. Her boyfriend was in her room. Her living, breathing boyfriend was in her room.

He glanced up from the book and smiled at her. "Did you miss me?"

Annabeth didn't say anything. How could she? Her boyfriend had just flown in from New York, unannounced, in the middle of the night. Annabeth wasn't sure how anyone would react to such a situation.

Her mind and her body seemed to separate. Her mind wanted to stay sitting there and come up with a rational explanation for all of this. Her body got out of the chair and moved toward Percy. Her mind told her this was a terrible idea. Her body wrapped itself around Percy's and held onto it tightly.

"I missed you," she thought.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

Percy shrugged. "Jason happened to tell me that you weren't going to homecoming tomorrow, and that simply can't be."

"Well, Jason is extremely misinformed because-"

"Annabeth, it's your senior year. You never go out and do anything. You're so worried about getting ahead that you don't notice what's happening right now."

"But I-"

"Yes, you do. That's going to change tomorrow night, though. We're going to go to that dance and we're going to have so much fun, okay?"

"Percy, I wish you'd stop interrupting me because-"

"Annabeth, when are you going to realize that everything isn't dependent on a crazy amount of advance planning? Live in the moment! Get out of your comfort zone!"

"Percy! I'm going to homecoming! I was going before you showed up and gave me that impressive pep talk."

"Oh," said Percy. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"You didn't let me get out more than a few words." She gazed at him. "We can't just pretend that everything is okay."

Percy sighed. "I'm really sorry, Annabeth, but I wish you'd be more understanding. I felt really bad, so when Jason told me you weren't going to homecoming I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to surprise you. But, you are, and I guess you're still mad at me."

"I am still mad at you," Annabeth admitted, "But I really do want you to come to homecoming tomorrow."

"Then I'll be there."

She buried her head in the crook of Percy's neck and closed her eyes. She felt relaxed and safe, emotions she hadn't experienced in months. Annabeth didn't realize how much she'd missed Percy until then.

"Thank you," She mumbled.

"For what?"

"For being here. For flying six hours to take me to homecoming. For coming even when Jason didn't ask you to come. For coming when I didn't even want to go. We were angry with each other. We hadn't spoken in weeks. Why did you do it?"

"Because I love you."

"There has to be a better reason than that."

"There isn't," Percy replied. "It's the only way I can explain it. When Jason told me you were going without anyone, I felt something telling me I had to come check on you."

Annabeth smiled. "You're a great boyfriend, Percy Jackson."

Percy smirked. "I know."

* * *

 **warning! the following section is a little more "m" rated. if you don't want to read it, there's a summary below. otherwise, continue!**

 _drew tells her friends about her affair with Jason blindly. she assumes nothing will come of her revelation._

* * *

"Larry's pretty small, and he only lasted for a few minutes," said Mariana, twirling her golden blonde curls around her finger. Her hair color had been chemically changed and she'd had numerous surgeries. Drew couldn't even tell what was natural and what wasn't, and she'd known Mariana since preschool.

Drew and Mariana were the only juniors in their group of friends, meaning that they'd be alone next year as the other three girls, Evelyn, Jessica, and Isabel were seniors and would be graduating. Drew wouldn't miss the girls; it had been a long time since she and Mariana had been just friends and hadn't been trying to impress older kids. In fact, Drew was looking forward to a fresh start that didn't include Mariana.

Ever since she'd ditched Jason, Drew felt like a whole new person. She felt that she could do anything she put her mind to. She felt hope. She knew that getting involved with Jason was an extremely risky endeavor. He did have a girlfriend, but Drew knew he didn't love her like he said he did. Drew, despite her checkered past with her, really did like Reyna. She deserved better than Jason.

The problem with Jason was that Drew was beginning to get too attached. She really did love Jason, and she could tell that Jason liked her too. They were so compatible and Drew figured that by roping him in he'd be hers. Unfortunately, it didn't work too well. Jason used her and left her heartbroken every time they'd been together. Eventually, Drew couldn't take the pain anymore. She had to cut things off, and Jason hadn't tried to talk to her since.

"Jacob was definitely one of my favorites," Mariana continued. "I think I want him again."

"He's cute," Jessica agreed. "Young for me, but cute. I'm swearing off anyone who's younger than college. Preferably anyone who's younger than a sophomore."

"What about you, Drew?" Evelyn asked. "Who's been your favorite so far?"

Drew blushed and gave them a seductive smile. "You'll never believe me if I tell."

"Come on!" Isabel said, drinking from her red cup expectantly. "I'm dying to know."

"Jason. Jason Grace."

Isabel dropped her cup. The other three girls gaped at Drew. She had their undivided attention, and it was awesome.

"You're kidding," Jessica sighed. "Isn't he practically married to Reyna?"

"That's what everyone thinks," Drew said smoothly. "He puts out a good front, doesn't he?"

"He's so hot," Mariana said. "I'm totally jealous. I wish he were into me."

"He's good, too. Jason Grace: gentle man in the streets, freak in the sheets."

"Oh my gosh!" Jessica gushed. "That's great. I'm using that in the future."

"I decided to cut it off," Drew admitted.

"What's the matter with you?" Evelyn demanded. "You had possibly the hottest guy in school wrapped around your finger. Why in the world would you give that up?"

"We were getting way too exclusive. I wanted to be with other people. Besides, I think Reyna was getting suspicious."

"Drew, you're one wild kid," said Jessica. "Teach me your ways, senpai!"

Drew laughed. She was happy that she'd shared her secret. It was totally harmless. What could go wrong?

* * *

Marcus couldn't get his hands to stop shaking.

He was not one to get nervous. He was confident in everything that he attempted, even if he knew that the outcome was going to be much less than perfect. It was just the way he was, and it was the way he always had been. Until today, of course.

He'd left the party early after talking with Leila for a while. The entire time, it was nagging at him. He knew he had to talk to Lacy. He couldn't just leave her like that and call her his friend. It was about time he started acting like a friend.

Lacy, meanwhile, was absolutely miserable. She never knew that getting admitted to the hospital would lead her to realize who her real friends were.

None of the people who she considered her best friends had come to visit. All they'd done was send pictures of their first homecoming spirit week with coordinating outfits, beautiful makeup at the game, and wild pictures of the party with captions like "wish you were here!". It was enough to make Lacy sick.

The only people that really seemed to care about her well-being were her half-brother Mitchell and her father. They'd been by to visit her almost every day, bringing her makeup and homework to entertain herself. They were nice gestures, but they didn't make up for the fact that she'd missed her first ever high school homecoming week.

Her mother, on the other hand, refused to look at her. She said that Lacy had made a disgusting mistake by getting in the car with Marcus and that if she ever talked to him again she'd decapitate them both. That wasn't proving to be a problem for Lacy. Marcus wasn't talking to her, either.

She knew that Marcus had been discharged, but she wasn't sure if he had gone back to school or was at home. Lacy wasn't bitter though; she knew Marcus probably wanted nothing to do with her. If he hadn't taken her home, he never would have gotten into that mess.

When Marcus walked through the door, Lacy had her eyes closed. Her hair was braided in two elaborate plaits and she looked very peaceful. He didn't want to disturb her, but Lacy's room was not one that had been recently renovated, and the floor creaked under him. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked at him with a blank expression.

"Shouldn't you be at the party?" She croaked.

"I wanted to see how you were doing," he replied softly. "Are you in any pain?"

She shook her head. "They give me a lot of medication. I'm not sure how bad anything is. I haven't felt anything since the night we were hit." She began to sit up, and Marcus rushed to her side.

"You should be careful," he said.

"Marcus, I'm not fragile. I'm going home on Sunday. I can do things by myself. I need to do things by myself."

"You've got a broken arm, a broken leg, and gauze wrapped around your head," Marcus said. His tone resembled that of a strict parent. "You are extremely fragile."

"Thanks for coming," Lacy said, moving her leg on the bed so Marcus could sit down. "No one else did."

"I know the feeling," he replied. "No one came for me, either. Except for Nathan, of course."

"Junior, I guess?"

"Yeah. He's my best friend."

"I wouldn't know him." Lacy shifted on her pillows. "It's kind of weird that your girlfriend didn't visit you."

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, you do. That one girl who's always in the garden."

"How would you know about Leila?"

Lacy paused. "You act like I hadn't seen you before we hung out."

"I hadn't seen you before."

"I was an eighth grader. I remember you were volunteering last year. You and your girlfriend talked to my dad and me about AP classes at the fair. You guys were making out right after we left."

"I can't believe you remembered all of that," Marcus admitted. "I didn't even remember that."

"To be honest, neither did I, but being in the hospital gives you a lot of time to think. I remembered I had seen you somewhere, and then I had it."

"Well, she's not my girlfriend anymore. I broke up with her, but it was a mistake so I tried to get her back. I was really close and then...she blew it."

"She blew it?" Lacy sounded confused. "But you broke up with her. I don't understand."

"She thought you and I were dating."

Lacy blushed. "Absolutely not. You're three grades above me. Everyone would laugh at you."

"That's what I told her!" Marcus exclaimed. It felt good to finally have someone who understood his thought process. "She told me that I had to stop talking to you if I wanted us to get back together. I figured if Leila was jealous of a freshman, we probably shouldn't be together anyway."

Lacy laughed. "I don't see why she'd be jealous of me. She looks so much better than I do."

"Everyone probably wouldn't laugh at me if we were dating, though. There are plenty of seniors who date freshmen. It usually doesn't last that long, but it happens."

"My half-sister warned me about that. I don't really like her, but freshmen dating seniors doesn't really seem like a good idea. You probably know her. She's a junior like you."

"Really?" Marcus asked. "What's her name?"

"Drew Tanaka."

Marcus was speechless. Drew was Lacy's half sister? They were like polar opposites.

"I never would have guessed."

"Yeah, I know. We have the same mom, but we look nothing alike. You can't tell anyone we're related, though."

"Why not?"

"Because we like to pretend we don't know each other in school. It's been years and no one suspects a thing."

"I promise." They sat in silence for a while. Then, Marcus said "I figured you'd be angry with me. That's why I didn't come sooner."

"Why would I be angry with you? The accident wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, but you said you could have walked home and I insisted on driving you. Then, I took you to all those random places in the middle of the night. If I had just taken you home like I promised, you wouldn't be like this."

"It's okay, Marcus," Lacy said calmly. "I had so much fun that night. I don't think I've ever had that much fun with anyone. I'm glad you took me out. I just wish we hadn't gotten hit. Then you would be able to play for the recruiters."

"But what about homecoming?" Marcus asked. "I remember you said while we were eating that you really wanted to go. Now you can't, and it's my fault."

"You know, I thought I wanted to go back then. Then I realized that there are better things than homecoming. Take this for example. If we hadn't gotten hit, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. I would never have a wild story to tell my grandkids, and I'd just be a tagalong again in a group of friends that never really wanted me anyway. You did me a lot of favors, Marcus. Sure, having two casts and a pound of gauze around your head isn't much of a consolation prize, but I learned a lot about myself, and I really think that's a priceless thing."

Marcus gave her a small smile. "You're very smart for your age, Lacy."

Lacy nodded modestly in response, but on the inside, she was beaming.

* * *

The sun was scorching.

She'd be lying if she said that she'd never been hungover before, but never like this. Her eyes felt like they were frying in their sockets. Her body ached like never before. Waves of nausea crashed over her like violent waves in the Pacific. It was not a very nice feeling.

Natalya forced herself to roll over, and when she did, she rolled on top of someone. It was not one of her siblings. It was a boy, and he wasn't wearing a shirt. It seemed like hours before her eyes came into focus. The boy groaned and rolled onto the floor, causing a very loud thud.

"Who are you?" she managed to croak out. Her voice sounded like she'd eaten a bag of gravel, followed by a stack of sandpaper.

"It's me," the boy grumbled back. "Bobby. Go back to sleep. "

Natalya breathed a sigh of relief. "You scared me. What happened last night?"

"What are you thinking? Are you crazy? What made you think that was a good idea?"

"Stop screaming," Natalya said.

"What," Bobby said, raising his voice, "made you fucking think that was a good idea? You were obviously drunk when you made that decision since that seems to be all you do these days, but you really couldn't think running a fucking Ponzi scheme was a good idea, could you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Natalya protested. For a second, she really didn't. Then, she remembered that she'd been talking pretty loudly at the party. Bobby knew, and he knew that she'd kept things from him. This was not good.

"It was a mistake," Natalya began.

"Bullshit!" Bobby exclaimed. "It's bad enough you lied to my face before, but you're just making things worse for the both of us." He ran his hands through his hair. "How am I supposed to trust anything you say now?"

"I'd like to think you'd trust me. I was just trying to protect you. Why won't you understand that?"

"Protect me from what? I don't need you to protect me from anything. You're one to talk about trust, too. You're expecting me to trust you when I don't know what the hell you've gotten yourself into, and quite frankly, I'm not too sure you do either."

"Bobby, listen-"

"No, you listen. As your friend, I'm asking you to think about this. I know you think that lying to Octavian is the best way to get around him, but Octavian is dangerous and he'll find a way to bring you down. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"I know exactly what I'm getting myself into," countered Natalya. "Bryce and I are going to expose Octavian and he's never going to take advantage of another person again. You're going to thank us when we pull it off, too. I've always tried to make things better for this school and this is my best move yet. You should be applauding me for making your life easier."

"You really believe that, don't you?I can't believe you'd stoop so low to win a school election that doesn't even matter."

"Gosh, I wish you weren't so annoying sometimes! Ever since you've been hanging around Rachel, you've been acting like a different person. She's changing you and you don't even realize it."

"Sure," Bobby snapped. "I'm not the one keeping secrets."

"Just get out of my room."

"Whatever," Bobby said, picking himself off the floor, grabbing his phone, and storming to the door. "By the way, you're welcome for last night. You could barely even stand up when I found you. When, and not if, but when your stupid plan fails, don't say I didn't warn you."

Natalya shook her head angrily. She didn't feel a bit of remorse. Besides, what did Bobby know? Per usual, she had everything under control.

* * *

Piper snuck in through the window the night before.

She bought a ladder off of Amazon and had it delivered to Nathan's house so Marie wouldn't be suspicious. Since her window faced the back of the house, Marie was none the wiser and Piper could come and go as she pleased.

Of course, she had no idea that Percy paid Annabeth a visit earlier that night. When she climbed up the wall at four the next morning (and nearly fell off because she was still very high) and slept until one that afternoon, she had no idea that there were any changes in the house until she ventured into her bathroom.

Percy really had to pee, but the twins were getting ready for a soccer game and all of the bathrooms were occupied. Annabeth reminded him that there was a bathroom in the attic and that Piper was probably out cold in her room. So, naturally, he took Annabeth's suggestion.

He came up to Piper's room and gave her a quick glance. Annabeth described Piper as her mental description of a princess. With her tangled hair, loud snoring and messy blankets, Percy couldn't really see what Annabeth saw in her. She really looked like a wreck. Since she began to stir lightly, Percy stepped away and went about his business.

Percy used the bathroom and tried to leave quickly. When he opened the door, he managed to hit Piper in the face. She squealed in shock and fell to the floor, holding her nose. Percy had to admit, she did look a lot better when she was awake. However, she wasn't Percy's type. Percy only had one type, and that type consisted of blonde curly hair, gray eyes, and an amazing personality. Percy's type was right downstairs.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "Why are you in my bathroom?"

"I'm sorry!" He apologized. "Annabeth told me that there would be an open bathroom up here...I didn't mean to hit you."

"You're Annabeth's friend? Who are you? Do you go to Jupiter?"

"I'm Percy Jackson. I'm her boyfriend. You must be Piper."

Piper's face softened. "Thank God you're here. She never stops talking about you." Piper lifted herself off the floor and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Same here. You might know my cousin, Jason Grace. He's in your grade."

"Indeed I do," Piper replied. "He's my science partner. You two don't look much alike, though. In fact, you're almost like opposites."

"I see what you mean. Jason looks much more like his mother, and I look much more like my father, who is almost identical to Jason's father. Jason's sister and I look much more alike."

"I see," Piper said. They stood there awkwardly for a few moments.

"I'll just get out of your bathroom now." Percy slipped away and went down the small flight of stairs.

"Have a good day!" Piper called down the stairs.

* * *

Jason loved naps.

Since the dance was that evening and Jason wasn't sure when he was going to get home, he decided to take a very long nap before getting ready. His cousin, however, had a different agenda.

Jason had been asleep for about an hour and a half when Percy arrived. Thalia's excited squeal was what woke him up. Annoyed, Jason got up and wandered downstairs to see what the racket was all about.

"Thalia, what is it," he moaned, struggling to get his glasses on. A pair of hands reached out and straightened them for him. Jason glanced up to see who it was. It was Percy.

Jason threw his arms around his cousin. Percy was a few inches taller than him now; for years Jason had been the taller one.

"I missed you," Percy said.

"I thought you weren't coming until next month," Jason mumbled into Percy's shoulder blade.

"I actually have you to thank for that," Percy said. "Thanks to your misconception, I'll be here for the weekend and we'll all be coming for Thanksgiving next month."

"Absolutely not," Thalia said, sinking into an armchair. "We'll head up to New York. We don't want you to have to make two trips. Especially not with the new baby."

"I don't think mom's going to like that very much," admitted Percy. "She told me she was coming to see you guys whether or not she'd given birth."

Thalia paled a bit when Percy talked about birth. Thankfully, Jason was the only one who noticed. He kept a straight face, but Percy could tell that they had a secret. He wasn't going to press it, though. If the Grace kids were good at anything, it was keeping things under wraps.

"I'm sure Annabeth will really enjoy your company," Thalia said, changing the subject.

"I hope she will."

* * *

"You look very nice," Leila said, straightening Nathan's tie. "I'm sure Piper will love it."

"I wish Piper would get down here," Marcus muttered. "If she doesn't hurry up, we're all going to be late."

"Piper!" Annabeth called up the stairs. "Get moving! It's almost seven!"

"I'm sorry!" Piper yelled back. "Just a couple more minutes, I promise!"

Ten minutes later, Piper came bounding down the stairs. It was a wonder she didn't trip because she'd never worn heels before. They were already hurting her ankles and they hadn't even left for the dance yet.

Besides the hell heels, Piper was adorned in a navy dress and sparkling silver jewelry just like everyone else, but there was something about her outfit that looked better than everyone else's. Her makeup and hair appeared perfect as well. There was nothing really special about her at first glance, but her beauty seemed to come from inside and pushed itself out.

No one said anything at first. They were all staring at her.

"What?" Piper asked. "Is there something stuck in my hair?"

"Quite the opposite," Marcus said softly.

"I wish you'd told me you could do makeup," Natalya gushed. "Yours looks awesome."

"You look absolutely stunning, Piper," said Annabeth.

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "You're a knockout."

After he said it, Jason wished he hadn't. Reyna swatted him angrily on the arm. Piper blushed uncomfortably. Nathan looked murderous, a look that Jason hadn't ever seen on his friend.

"Can we just...take the picture?" Nathan growled. "Now?" Piper hurried to his side and he threw his arm around her.

"Are we ready?" Marie asked, attaching her Nikon to a tall tripod. "Smile!"

Later, when Annabeth looked at the photo, she could see that Reyna and Nathan were smiling, but their eyes told a different story.

They arrived at the dance 45 minutes late, which was just in the nick of time to be considered "fashionably late". It was held outside in the school's enclosed courtyard, just like a traditional Roman one. There was barely any room to move, the music was loud and fast, and someone had already spiked the punch. It was quite the dance.

"Shall we?" Natalya offered Marcus her elbow. Leila looked away. She knew that any chance with Marcus was gone, but it still hurt to see him with another girl, even if she knew they were just friends.

Jason and Reyna were soon gone, as were Annabeth and Percy. Bobby and Rachel went off with Frank and Hazel and this left Leila, Piper, and Nathan. Leila inched away awkwardly.

"Do you want to dance?" Piper asked. "There's a lot of people staring and it's making me kind of uncomfortable."

"That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about," Nathan said, taking her hand to ward off any suspicion that she was single. "Jason's been acting kind of weird around you lately and I know this is probably nothing, but I just need to know if you have any feelings for him."

"Of course not," Piper lied. "He's got Reyna and I've got you. That's all that matters." She kissed his cheek. "Don't worry about Jason, babe. He means nothing to me."

Nathan was so happy, he could kiss her. And he did, multiple times. The crushing weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "That's all I needed to hear."

* * *

The time had come to announce the homecoming queen and king. Secretly every senior wanted to be crowned, but only a coveted few knew they were candidates.

Octavian's name was called as the king, and Annabeth felt she was going to be sick. She knew it was a popularity contest, but Octavian was no doubt the worst.

"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for! Our Jupiter High homecoming queen...Annabeth Chase!"

Time seemed to slow down. She could hear the roar of the crowd as she made her way onstage. She could feel the crown being placed on her head. She felt like a real queen, even if the jewels were simply cubic zirconia. She had no idea how she'd won.

(The following week, Annabeth would learn that the elected homecoming queen and both runner-ups, all members of Octavian's clan, were caught snorting lines in the field house and immediately disqualified from the competition. Somehow Annabeth had placed fourth and victory was automatically hers.)

But the best part? The best part wasn't getting a crown or seeing Percy shed tears of joy or Marie actually acknowledging her with positivity once she got home. The best part was watching Octavian seethe with anger, his crown lopsided on his head. Reyna was laughing bitterly. Annabeth simply smiled. Justice had finally been served.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**a/n: hey y'all! i'm so sorry i was m.i.a. for a while! I had ap testing and finals right afterward, so school needed to be top priority for a while. nonetheless, i am back! i'm on summer break now so i hope to be reading and writing a lot more! look out for new chapters of this book and new stories on my page!**

 **also...is anyone else getting really attached to nathan and piper? i know i am! alas, this is a jiper fanfic so it's going to have to end someday :(**

* * *

The glamor of Annabeth's award faded fairly quickly, as Percy was slated to leave for New York the evening after the dance.

"Just a little longer?" Annabeth pleaded as Percy prepared to leave. "What are you all even doing in school right now? Is it really that important?"

"Midterms," Percy said sadly. "I really don't want to make all of them up."

"But what about me? Would you make them up for me?"

"Wise Girl, you're not acting very wise."

Annabeth frowned. "That wasn't funny. I'm trying to be serious."

Percy kissed her forehead. "I know you are. I'll be back before you know it, I promise. Besides, Halloween is coming up! You'll be having so much fun that you'll forget all about me."

"I could never forget about you," Annabeth promised. She didn't want to, but she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend in a parting embrace. "Call me when you land. Good luck on your exams."

Percy slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked towards the taxi. He slid into the backseat and gave a remorseful wave. Annabeth could barely lift her arm. Her veins felt like they were full of liquid lead.

Piper came onto the porch. Her hair was down and her feet were bare. She looked like she had been sleeping.

"I'm sorry he's gone," she said softly, sitting next to Annabeth on the steps.

"I can't bear it when he leaves. I get this awful feeling and it doesn't go away until he comes back." Annabeth looked at her. "I guess it's almost as bad when you don't get to see your parents or your best friend. I guess I'm the lucky one."

"Not really," Piper said slowly. "My dad was never really there even when I lived with him, and I have Derek around now. The only person I really miss is Leo. I wish we still went to school together."

"You guys are friendship goals," Annabeth said. "I envy you two."

Piper laughed. "Everyone always thinks we're dating, so we take advantage of it at restaurants and stuff. We've faked proposals and gotten free food at least five times."

The girls sat outside for hours talking and watching the sunset. When they went inside to make dinner, Annabeth was happy that she felt just a little less alone.

* * *

Jason was a kid who liked continuity. This was very evident during Halloween.

It all started during his first Halloween. According to Thalia, Beryl had allowed her to pick Jason's costume. Thalia thought Superman was a perfect choice because he had blue eyes. After Halloween, Jason refused to go to sleep without the cape, which he used as a security blanket until he was about six. Since then, Jason had worn a Superman costume every Halloween, and that year was no different.

Reyna was going to be Lara Croft this year. She claimed that she liked the braid and the costume was really comfortable. Jason certainly wasn't complaining.

Gwen and Dakota were throwing a party, as they were seniors and this would be their last large affair for the fall season. They had been planning for months and promised everyone that it would be the party of the year. Little did they know that it would be legendary like they'd hoped, but for none of the reasons that they'd expected. (That's a story for a little later though. Let's stay on track, shall we?)

Before any of the wild events could occur, the week before the party had to pass. Many events happened in the week before the game and the party that should not be ignored.

* * *

Natalya decided to forgive Bobby for acting like a jerk, and Bobby pretended to accept the apology. Bobby enjoyed holding grudges, even against his best friend. Rachel might have been a little possessive in the past few weeks, but Natalya wasn't exactly acting like a saint either. She was in no place to judge anyone for their behavior when her own was anything but admirable. He wasn't going to let Natalya know that this was how he felt, though. He wasn't crazy, and he was really getting sick of sitting with Frank at lunch. He didn't mind it once in awhile, but there were only so many plugs from the WWF that Bobby could take, and Frank was a diamond status member.

Meanwhile, Leila was still reeling. How dare Marcus abandon her for a freshman? She simply didn't understand. Sure, Lacy had nice hair and perfect skin, but she was fourteen! Did Marcus really hate her that much? Did Marcus really want to pursue her? Leila didn't know what to do, so she talked to Reyna.

"I say let it blow over," Reyna advised. "I mean, she's a freshman and he's a junior. What can really come of that relationship? He'll get bored of her soon enough. You'll see. He'll come crawling back to you in a few months."

"But what if he doesn't?" Leila protested. "What if he really thinks she's better than me?"

"Then he's obviously mentally ill."

"Reyna," begged Leila, "I need real advice."

Reyna gave a heavy sigh. "I guess if Marcus really likes her, you're just going to have to let him go. If it were Jason and me, I'd stop talking to him the second I saw him with a freshman. But I know Jason wouldn't do that."

Leila rubbed her sleeve uneasily. Clearly, she was going to have to get advice elsewhere.

* * *

Drew wasn't known for being an extremely noble person.

As soon as her half-sister Lacy was born, she terrorized her so much that Drew's mother decided to keep the sisters away for many years. Drew was the kid who pushed others off of the slide on the playground and laughed when their noses began to bleed. In middle school, she'd sat in the principal's office a time or two for being an "innocent bystander" in many questionable events. Now that she was in high school, she'd had her first long-running gig as a side hoe until she'd cut it off.

Now, Drew was beginning to regret this decision. Since when was she the one to do the right thing? Besides, Jason wanted her, right? The only thing that was keeping her from being with Jason was her conscience, which had been blown years ago. It had been staring her right in the face all along! What was she thinking?

Drew grabbed her phone from her nightstand and opened Facetime. If this plan didn't work, she always had a plan B, which would require waiting. Drew didn't really like waiting.

Luckily for her, Jason answered quickly. He seemed like he had been roused from a deep slumber. It was only ten thirty...he didn't really go to sleep that early, did he?

"Drew?" he asked softly, sitting up. Drew could see his muscles contracting under his gray shirt. She'd worn that shirt before. It brought back a wave of memories. She'd been caught out in the rain and Jason, valiant as he was, offered her his clothes to wear. That had been a really fun day. That was back when she and Reyna were friends. That was back when she and Jason weren't together.

Her conscience, dirty as it might have been, began to creep onto her again. Things had been so simple before she'd gotten herself into that mess, and since she'd extracted herself from the affair, things had been simple again. Was it really better to cause herself stress and heartache for some boy who couldn't make up his mind after all? A boy who seemed to want her for nothing more than her body?

"I'm sorry I called so late," she replied. "I just…"

Sheesh. She was complaining about Jason's indecisive tendencies, but she couldn't even make up her own mind about what she wanted.

"You just what? What do you need?" Jason's voice had a steel edge to it. Drew knew enough about him to know that he was ticked off.

"I needed to know what the English homework was. I wasn't paying attention in class today and I didn't hear."

"You could have texted," he grumbled.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

"It's...fine." His voice softened. "I couldn't really sleep anyway."

Drew looked away from the camera for a moment, pretending to be distracted. Jason raised his eyebrows. He was already on to her.

"You're lying."

"Excuse me?"

"You just wanted an excuse to talk to me." His voice had a playful edge to it, but his face was stagnant. Of course, she had to choose the person who could read her like a book to be vague with.

Drew gave him a small smile. "Right again. I always knew you were a smart kid."

"I miss you," Jason admitted. "I don't really miss what we were, but I miss you as a friend. I miss being able to talk to you about anything. You were one of my best friends, Drew. I don't know if you understand that and I don't know how I went this long without you. It's making me crazy."

Drew felt hurt and proud at the same time. Jason didn't feel the same kind of attraction that she felt for him, but he valued her friendship. Drew began to think that might have been much better than her original intentions.

"I was a jerk to you, so I can understand why you pushed me away," Jason continued. "I used you and threw you away. If I were in your position, I wouldn't be able to take it either. That wasn't fair to Reyna, and it wasn't fair to you either. I'm really sorry, and I know it probably doesn't mean anything to you now because it won't change anything."

"Jason, it's okay. Everything's okay."

"No, it isn't." Jason ran his tired hand through his hair. "Just...can I come over?"

"Are you sure that's not in poor taste?" Drew inquired.

"I need to talk to someone," he said. "I need to talk to someone that's there with me." He paused a moment. "Just to talk. Please, Drew. I know Nathan's busy with Piper, so I need you."

 _I need you_. Drew let those words settle in her mind for a moment. She knew she would never forget them.

"The window will be unlocked," she said clearly.

They kept it to talking when Jason slipped his way into her bedroom. Drew didn't do much talking, as Jason talked himself to sleep. She let him lay in her bed when he became too tired to keep his head up. Drew fell asleep soon after that.

She was in such a state of peace that when Jason woke up in the middle, planted a kiss on her cheek and left, she was none the wiser.

* * *

Thursday was Marcus's birthday, and since the group was a bit divided over the whole Leila/Marcus debacle, Jason, Nathan, Bobby, Hazel, and Frank decided not to throw him a big party. Instead, they opted to buy him a cake and give him presents at his house.

"Do you think we should invite his new friend?" Jason asked during lunch.

"Marcus has a new friend?" Hazel asked, taking a bite of her square of pizza carefully. "Who is he? Do I know him?"

"He is a she," Jason replied. "You actually might know her. She's a freshman."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Yes, Jason, because I know every freshman in this school. You're going to have to give me a name."

"I was getting to that," Jason muttered angrily. "Her name is Lacy, I think."

"Yes," Hazel said quietly. "I know her."

"Should we invite her?" Bobby asked.

"I don't think you should," Hazel said.

"I trust you," Nathan said quickly. "She doesn't need to know. She doesn't need to come."

"Why don't you think it would be a good idea?" Frank asked. "What do you know about her?"

"She has...well… she had a boyfriend last year. Granted, this guy is kind of crazy, so take what I'm telling you with a grain of salt. But I heard she cheated on him every weekend and spread lies about him. The thing that struck me as kind of odd is that she didn't even defend herself. She's a snake, and it didn't seem like she cared what other people thought about it. He broke up with her the same night she and Marcus were in the accident, something else I find kind of strange.

"She's a walking piece of bad luck," Nathan concluded. "And after what's happened to Marcus this year, the last thing he needs is more bad luck on his birthday."

"Fair enough," admitted Bobby. "So it'll just be us."

Hazel nodded in agreement with the others. It was true that Marcus was her friend, and he came first in all of her decisions. But was it really fair for Lacy to get dragged under the bus for a simple rumor?

* * *

Marcus didn't feel seventeen.

He was older than many of his friends, and usually he liked to rub it in their faces, but he just wasn't feeling it that year. Maybe it was because he didn't have Leila. Maybe it was because at that time next year, he would be an adult. He wasn't really sure.

The day passed without incident. His close friends bought him forgettable but thoughtful gifts, his teachers wished him a happy birthday in passing, and even Leila acknowledged him, something she hadn't done in a while. Things were just average. In hindsight, Marcus should have known that that was foreshadowing later events.

Marcus was going to his car after practice. Since they were working in the weight room after school that day, Marcus had to pass the fine arts hallway to get outside. As Marcus was passing the practice rooms, he heard beautiful music. He didn't consider himself a musician, but he did play the piano as a hobby and played French Horn in the band. It was a nice escape from the football mindset, which his parents preferred that he focus on. After all, music wasn't going to get him a scholarship. He wasn't good enough for that.

He glanced into the room where the music was the loudest. It was a piano piece, and it was played by none other than Lacy. Her eyes were shut, but Marcus could tell she knew the piece very well. It Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', one of Marcus's favorite pieces. Since the piano was facing the window and not the door, Marcus slipped in silently.

Once the song was over, he applauded. Lacy jumped and turned around quickly.

"You scared me!"

"You never told me you played the piano."

Lacy blushed. "You never asked."

"You're amazing Lacy. You're better than I ever will be."

"Oh, come on. I'm not that good."

"Yes, you are. Will you play something else?"

She looked skeptical. "I don't know. My brother might be waiting for me."

Marcus pouted. "Please Lacy? It's my birthday!"

Lacy smiled. "All right. But only because it's your birthday." She began to play Prelude in E minor, another one of Marcus's favorites. It was a fairly simple song (he played it for a recital in the eighth grade), but Lacy took it up a notch. She managed to take a basic song and make it elaborate and emotional and beautiful. To say that Marcus was impressed was an understatement.

"That was beautiful," Marcus told her once she was done. "You really have a gift, Lacy."

Lacy blushed again. "Nobody's ever told me that I was any good. It means a lot that you think so."

"Of course I think so. You shouldn't let anyone tell you different. You are great, and you're going to go places. I believe in you."

She looked away for a moment. She mumbled something under her breath.

"What?"

She looked straight into his eyes. Hers were full of determination, passion, and a bit of fear. Marcus could tell what was going to happen before it did. He saw her kneel on the piano bench and heard her say "Happy Birthday" a little louder. He saw his arms reach for her and pull her closer. He felt their lips touch and his heart nearly beating out of his chest. He figured it was wrong for him to kiss a freshman; wasn't it immoral? Hadn't he condemned upperclassmen for doing the same thing? Was he just filling the void of Leila with a vulnerable girl?

Either way, he didn't stop her, and she certainly didn't protest.

"I hope you enjoyed your present," she said when they finally pulled away.

"I certainly did."


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**sorry for the lack of uploads! i've actually had a horrible bout of writer's block with this one, and it's been a wild summer. i've started school, but i'll try my hardest to pump out a new chapter every month...no promises though! on another note, this story is now a year old! it certainly doesn't feel like i've been working with these characters for over a year, but it's been that long! thank you all for your continued support! please enjoy the story!**

* * *

The football game was underwhelming.

Few showed up, and those who did were distracted. If the team that Jupiter High was playing hadn't been one of the worst in the state, they likely would have lost the game. Thankfully, the game ended in a tie, 0-0. Despite their tie, the coach was furious and told the team that if they didn't get their heads out of the gutter, they wouldn't even have a chance at game one of the playoffs. No one wanted this outcome to turn into truth, so no one protested.

Reyna had not come to the game, Jason went to Dakota's to change into his costume and to help get ready for the party. As soon as he arrived, he noticed that his help was not needed. The house was perfect. Usually, Dakota's parties were fun but shoddily prepared; this was not the case on that night. Decorations were placed throughout the house, all the light bulbs had been replaced with orange and black ones, and cauldrons of dry ice were placed in rows at the entrance. At the end of the hall, Gwen stood with her hands on her hips, her long blonde hair tied into a ponytail, looking very satisfied.

She glanced up at Jason. "How did we do? What do you think?"

"I think it looks great," Jason said. "When are you guys expecting everyone?"

"Like, half an hour. I need to get ready. Do you think you could take the cookies out of the freezer for me and put some dry ice around the platter?"

"I've got it," said Reyna, coming out of the coat closet. Another senior and good friend of Reyna's, Alexander, followed her closely. He was dressed as Draco Malfoy, which went well with his almost-white blonde hair and his sharp facial features.

"I don't understand," he said slowly, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "How one closet could be so cluttered?"

Reyna went up to Jason and kissed his cheek. "Go get dressed. Everyone's going to be here soon."

"You sure you won't need help with the cookies?" Jason asked.

"I'll be fine. Alex can help me if I need it."

Jason was a bit skeptical, but he told himself not to worry. Besides, it took a very long time to put on a spandex suit.

Jason slipped into a bathroom and placed his bag on the counter. Suddenly, the door opened and Drew walked in. Jason jumped.

"Relax," she said. "I just need to change into my costume, and all the other bathrooms are taken."

"How long have you been here?" Jason demanded.

"The whole time. Gwen threw me a party before we started setting up."

"Why would Gwen throw you a…" Jason felt a sinking feeling as Drew gave him a hurt and annoyed look. He'd forgotten her birthday.

"I'm so sorry, Drew. Happy seventeenth."

"It's fine," she said, the look erased from her face, the hurt not erased from her memory. "I'll be expecting a gift on Monday. I like diamonds."

"You'll get a gift, but it won't be diamonds."

"Fair enough." She slipped her shorts off, and her shirt followed. Jason turned around and faced the wall.

"Playing hide and seek?" Drew questioned. "You never asked if I wanted to count first."

"Don't you want to get dressed in private?"

"If I wanted privacy, I would have gotten it. Maybe I wanted you to look."

Jason blushed. "Drew, I'm still dating Reyna. We agreed to be just friends. I thought that was what you wanted, too."

"Exactly. That's why you're not going to do anything stupid. Anyway, you missed your chance. I'm dressed now."

Jason turned back around cautiously. Thankfully, Drew wasn't lying. She was dressed (vaguely) as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Jason didn't remember the animated princess having a corset, though.

"Good luck with the spandex, Superman." She winked at him as she left.

* * *

"Your costume is so great," Natalya told Piper. "I wish you had done mine."

Piper looked down at her Wonder Woman costume. Usually she went to Party City and picked out a costume on Halloween, and lately, she hadn't dressed up at all. But this year, Nathan told her that Dakota always threw a party, and Piper didn't want to impede on tradition. She'd sewn her own costume and made her own props. She had to admit, it felt a lot better than just buying a costume from a store. It was the product of her own sweat, blood, and tears.

"I like yours better. I should have asked Bobby's mom to make mine." Natalya was dressed as Batgirl, while Bobby was dressed as Batman. They'd been wearing matching costumes ever since they'd been friends. This year, despite their fight, had been no different.

"I'm just looking for a good time." Natalya sighed. "I'm not sure how many good times are going to come after Monday."

Piper furrowed her brow. "What's happening on Monday?"

Natalya shook her head. "You don't need to know."

Piper didn't push it. She knew she was hiding some monumental secrets from the people here. Secrets that she would have to reveal to Nathan at least if she didn't want her life ruined by Drew.

"Where is Bobby?" Natalya stood on her tiptoes and looked over the crowds of people that had filled in. "He should have been here by now." Suddenly, someone placed their hand on her left shoulder. As fate would have it, Bobby stood behind her, in complete Batman costume.

"Not bad," Piper said. "I didn't know you guys would go all out."

"We want to win the best costume award," Bobby said simply. "It's very competitive, especially since it's Dakota's last year here. Jason and Reyna won last year, but they're not wearing a couple's costume this year. This is prime time to win." Natalya nodded in agreement, vicious competitiveness in her eyes.

"I didn't realize that this was such a big deal," Piper muttered under her breath.

"It really isn't," said Bobby. "Natalya just likes being extra. She loves to win everything, and will accept nothing less."

Nathan slid his hands around Piper's waist. "Are we roasting Natalya?" He was dressed as a doctor. With fake glasses and a lab coat he'd borrowed from one of his brothers, he looked fairly convincing.

"We are not roasting me," Natalya said, clearly annoyed. "We can, however, roast you. How do you expect to be a proper doctor without a bowtie?"

Nathan frowned down at his outfit. "Not all doctors have bowties."

"All doctors should have bowties," Natalya decided. "Too bad you won't win."

Nathan rolled his eyes, exasperated. "I wasn't even going to enter. Anyway, I lost a game of chess to Hank, and he says you and you alone are a worthy opponent. Your presence is requested in the game room."

"I'm flattered," Piper said sarcastically. She'd played Hank a countless amount of times in chess and had never won. "Care to accompany me and help me nurse my wounds when I lose?"

"Maybe you won't lose this time," Nathan encouraged.

"Maybe the sky will fall," Bobby muttered sarcastically. "My greatest piece of advice is not to get your hopes up." Both Piper and Nathan rolled their eyes.

"I'll come anyway," Nathan said. "Maybe Frank will be up for a game of cards. If it makes you feel any better, he lost before I did." Nathan and Piper left the two alone.

"This'll be nice," Natalya thought aloud. "It'll be just like old times."

"That's the thing about time," said Bobby. "You expect it to change. It's not surprising, at least not to me anyway. The thing I'm never prepared for is people changing. That's the thing you never think will happen until it does."

That, Natalya thought, was something to think about.

* * *

Usually, bad things happened at parties that had gone on a bit longer than they needed to. Very rarely did things go wrong at the very beginning.

Reyna did not like Isabel, Jessica, or Evelyn, and neither girl liked Reyna. However, since these three had their fair share of affairs, they knew when to keep a secret. Mariana, on the other hand, was not as smart.

The four ran into Reyna in the hallway. She was walking with Alexander, a friend of hers from student council. They were discussing ideas for the winter formal, something they'd been talking about all night when Mariana smirked.

"What was that about?" Evelyn hissed under her breath. Reyna began to walk a little slower and listen to the girls a little closer.

"I just find it kind of funny," said Mariana loudly, "That Reyna's got a replacement Jason, and Jason had a replacement Reyna a few weeks ago!"

"Excuse me?" Reyna said, turning completely on her heel and walking toward the quartet. "What did you just say?" Alexander followed her closely.

"I said," Mariana half-yelled, "That you're cheating on Jason the same way he cheated on you with Drew."

Reyna gaped as the other three girls put their heads in their hands.

"How could one person," Isabel wondered aloud angrily, "be so incredibly stupid?"

"I knew it!" Reyna exclaimed. "That's it. I'm going to give them both a piece of my mind." With that, she stormed away. Alexander gave the girls an angry look and turned to follow Reyna, but Jessica grabbed onto the hood of his robe.

"You're a lot hotter when you're angry," she said seductively. "Care to redirect it in a more...pleasurable activity?"

Alexander looked contemplative. He checked over his shoulder to make sure that Reyna had gone far away. Once he'd ensured that the coast was clear. He slipped his hand around Jessica's waist. "She doesn't need to know," he muttered to himself as she led him into a bedroom.

* * *

Jason was sitting on the couch in Dakota's basement. He was enjoying the movie and the company, but he couldn't help but wonder where Reyna was. Probably off with that Alexander kid again. Jason told himself that he shouldn't be worried, but if he was capable of cheating, she certainly was.

And there Reyna was. She looked angry as she came down the stairs, stalked over to the couch, grasped Jason's wrist, and dragged him into one of the bedrooms. He was utterly confused. What had he done wrong?

"How could you?" Reyna screamed once they were alone. "I knew there was something going on, but I thought you loved me enough to never even consider that kind of thing!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! You're having an affair!"

Jason's heart sunk into his stomach. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have trusted Drew not to go and tell everyone? He knew she was a gossip, and he took the bait. This was all his fault.

"I did, Reyna. I'm not going to lie about that. It wasn't fair to you, and I'm really really sorry. But that's over. I cut things off with Drew because I wanted to be more faithful to you. We did have an affair, but that's long over. I promise."

"How am I supposed to trust you after what happened?" Reyna asked icily. "How am I supposed to trust anything you say ever again?"

"I...I don't know." Jason sunk onto the bed and put his head in his hands. "I can't convince you to trust me. I wouldn't if I were you."

"You're really not helping your case."

"I know. But, even though I know it'll mean nothing, I'll give you my word. I'm telling the truth this time."

"Hmm." Reyna turned to him slowly with tears in her eyes. "So what if I believe you? That won't change anything. Why wasn't I enough for you? Why couldn't I make you happy?"

"I don't know. I made a bad decision, Reyna. I don't know what else to tell you."

"You don't have to tell me anything," she said coolly. "Actions speak much louder than words, and your actions have told me everything I need to know."

"What are you saying?" The fear was prevalent in Jason's voice.

"I'm saying I need a break."

"No," Jason whispered. "Reyna, please. Please!"

Reyna didn't say anything else. She simply walked away.

* * *

"I can't believe I lost to Hank," Piper said sadly. "That's never happened before."

"He's getting too good for his own good," Nathan concluded. "He's too advanced for us, but not advanced enough for nationals. I still can't tell which way he'll be going."

"Up. He can't go anywhere but up." Piper suddenly stopped and looked at the door.

"You good?" Nathan asked.

"I think I left my wallet in there earlier," she said. Turning the knob, she accidentally rammed Drew, who was reapplying eyeliner in the mirror. She poked her eye with the pencil.

"Fuck!" She screamed, grasping her eye with her free hand. "What the hell were you thinking? Don't you have any idea how to knock?"

"I'm so sorry," Piper said quickly. "I didn't mean to."

"I don't care what you meant to do! I'm fucking blind!"

"Drew," Nathan said, annoyance coloring his voice, "Lay off. She made a mistake, and it's not a big deal."

"She made a mistake," Drew echoed, her voice becoming quieter and more menacing. "She sure did. And she's made much worse mistakes than this. But I'm sure you know all about those, don't you?"

"Shut up," Piper said through gritted teeth.

"What's she talking about?" Nathan asked. "What do you mean by she's made worse mistakes?"

Drew's lips formed into a cruel smile. "I guess we have quite the dilemma on our hands, don't we? Your dear Piper didn't heed my warning. Your girlfriend is here because her daddy didn't want her anymore. She's got a long record of stealing things and running off. Percy's mom thought it would be nice for her to take a step out of the privileged world and come live with Annabeth as an indentured servant. I knew long before anyone else did, and I simply advised her to tell you before the word got out."

"That's not true," Piper countered. "You threatened and blackmailed me."

Drew shrugged. "That doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that you kept all that information from your loving and attentive boyfriend. I was just looking out for a friend, one who I've known for longer than you ever will."

"Is that true?" Nathan asked. He looked so surprised, so vulnerable, so broken. There was no use hiding it now. The truth had shown its ugly claws.

"It's true." Piper couldn't meet his eyes.

"The delinquent finally does something right," Drew concluded. "I'm really sorry, Nathan. Maybe you'll find the right girl someday." She gave them both a small wave and disappeared down the hallway.

"I knew this was too good to be true," Nathan muttered to himself. I knew you were too good to be true."

"No," Piper protested, grasping his hand. "The reason I'm here doesn't change the way I feel about you. I really like you, Nathan. I don't want us to change."

"You really think we're going to be able to go back to what we were? How are we supposed to be able to go back to the way things were after this?"

"I guess it's kind of unrealistic, but I really want to be with you. I was afraid that if I told you, you wouldn't like me anymore."

"I still like you," Nathan said slowly, "But I would have respected you a lot more had you told me the truth. The fact that you didn't think I could handle the truth really hurts."

"I'm sorry," Piper said. "I really am. As you can tell, I make a lot of mistakes. These are just a few examples."

"It's okay. Well, it isn't right now, but I'll come around. I think I just need some time."

"That's fair," Piper admitted. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Nathan said again. But he knew he'd never see his girlfriend in the same light for a very long time.

* * *

"What are you wearing?" Bobby whispered angrily. Rachel had come fully dressed in a Batgirl costume, one that looked a lot worse than Natalya's.

"Well, since we're a couple now, I figured we'd match. You know, so we're coordinated. Maybe we can even enter the costume contest."

"No," Bobby said sharply. "Natalya is wearing the same thing. We've been planning this for weeks. My mom made her a costume!"

"Well, you should have asked your mom to make me one." Rachel's eyes darkened. "We're dating, Bobby. I hate that I have to remind you of that."

"I have a life that doesn't revolve around you," Bobby countered. "I hate to have to remind you of that."

Rachel shook her head angrily. "You're walking on thin ice, kid." She stalked away, shooting him mean looks as she left.

Meanwhile, Natalya was watching from the stairwell in the basement. She was not happy. How dare Rachel try to impede on their tradition?

"What am I supposed to do about that?" Natalya sneered.

Reyna stood behind her, shaking her head. "Don't be naive like I was. Mark your territory. He's yours, and if you have a problem with her getting too clingy, you let both of them know. I'll back you up, okay?"

Natalya nodded, with a renewed desire to win. She hurried downstairs and to Bobby's side. "What was all that about?" She asked.

"She's trying to get me to enter the costume contest with her." Bobby laughed bitterly. "I don't know what she's thinking. There's no way we would win with her costume. Yours is ten times the costume hers will ever be."

Natalya couldn't help but feel elated. She hadn't lost Bobby after all. At the very least, he trusted her not to ruin his Halloween.

"What do you think you're wearing?" Natalya could hear Rachel's nasally voice before she bothered to turn around to look at her.

"My costume. I pride myself in wearing clothes all the time in public. Of course, I can't speak for the rest of us." This earned Natalya a few snickers from the back.

"I pride myself in not being an unoriginal prude, but I can't speak for the rest of us either." After that, the entire basement got very quiet. All eyes were on the girls.

"It doesn't surprise me that you can't come up with your own comebacks, considering your grades."

"Well, I got it from Bobby." She turned around and gave her boyfriend a wink. Bobby just rolled his eyes.

"I really don't understand why he puts up with you. You're not good for him. You two are nothing alike."

"You're no better," Rachel countered. "And here's the funny thing. We might be horrible for each other, but at the end of the day, he's had years to pursue you, and I've only known him for a few weeks. How sad does that look?"

"Why do you assume that I want to date my best friend?" Natalya kept a straight face well, but on the inside, she was seething. How could Rachel know how she'd felt all this time?

"It's obvious. This relationship wouldn't be bothering you if you didn't want Bobby for yourself." Rachel smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. "You know I'm right, but you don't have to admit it."

"The reason you're bothering me is that you're totally possessive. Bobby told me that you didn't want me to hang out with him anymore. You wouldn't have said that if you didn't feel threatened by me."

"Look who can't come up with their own comebacks now! Isn't that a bit hypocritical of you?"

"You can't come up with a valid comeback because you know that's the real truth. Bobby's always going to be my best friend. If you keep treating him this way, you're going to be nothing but a bad memory for all of us."

"You watch your mouth," Rachel said, clenching her fists.

"Girls," Bobby said cautiously, "Let's settle this without a physical altercation."

"Why?" Natalya continued, ignoring Bobby entirely. "What are you going to do? I've got you cornered. You're nothing but an insecure teenager who figured she'd mess around with someone in the popular crowd so you'd get the attention you so crave. You might be a public interest now, but if you keep treating Bobby like that, he'll break up with you and you'll be even less relevant than you are now. Being a bitch isn't going to solve your problem, either." Before Natalya knew it, Rachel slapped her.

Rachel had been in quite a few petty matches with numerous deserving individuals and even a real fight. Natalya, on the other hand, had quite a lot of experience with fighting, as she had two sisters. Like many things she attempted, Natalya was winning. Rachel knew she had to get out, but she didn't know how. The fight seemed to last hours, it seemed to last days. It was only when someone yanked Natalya off of her that she began to get her wits about her.

"I can't believe you did that!" Rachel screamed.

"You were the one who started it!" Natalya yelled back, trying to struggle free of Bobby's grasp. "And I'll fight you and anyone else if it means my best friend gets to be happy!"

"You don't scare me," Rachel sneered.

"Just stop!" Dakota yelled. "This is my party, and I'm not going to have both of you fighting the whole time. Get out. Right now."

"Dakota, how could you do this?" Natalya protested. "You're supposed to be my friend."

"And you're not supposed to ruin the mood, so here we are."

"Dakota, is this really necessary?" Bobby asked. "They're good now, see?"

Dakota considered this for a moment. "Fine," he agreed. "But both of you are disqualified from the costume contest."

"Fair enough," Bobby agreed. Natalya gave him a look of angry disbelief. Rachel simply shrugged and left through the back door. Bored, everyone else resumed what they were doing before the fight occurred, which was not much.

"I can't believe you threw all of that away!" Natalya hissed. "We've been planning this for weeks!"

"You need to calm down. It really isn't that deep. I won't enter as a single if that'll make you happy."

Natalya's bottom lip quivered. "I have done everything for you, and you can't even defend me when I wanted to enter the contest."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Would you listen to yourself? It's just a contest! It doesn't even matter at the end of the day!"

"It doesn't matter at the end of the day?" Natalya repeated. "This mattered to me. Obviously, that doesn't matter to you. And I'm starting to doubt that this friendship doesn't, either."

"If you think this friendship doesn't matter to me, you are sadly mistaken."

"I don't think I am. All of the decisions you make are for her! What about me?"

"Natalya, she's my girlfriend! I thought you of all people would understand that. You're my best friend, but things have to change."

"So you'd rather put your girlfriend before your best friend? Your aggravating, ill-mannered girlfriend over your best friend? What kind of logic is that?"

"Please try to see my side of things. Please?"

"I don't think I can do that," Natalya said quietly.

"Why not?" Bobby asked.

"Because I'm not an idiot!" Natalya exclaimed, storming out the door that Rachel had gone out of just minutes earlier.

Bobby sighed and ran his fingers through his dark hair. He knew that this was far from the end of his problems.

* * *

"Why do you look so angry?" Drew inquired, wandering into the bedroom and flopping onto the bed next to Jason. "There was a pretty rough fight downstairs. I didn't know Natalya had it in her."

Jason's expression went from dazed to surprised. "Natalya got in a fight? This really is a remarkable evening."

"That Rachel girl had it coming," Drew said, shrugging.

"Reyna found out about us. Did you tell her?"

"No!" Drew said, scooting away from him. "Jason, I would never-"

"I didn't think you would," Jason interrupted, "but someone did, and they told Reyna. She broke up with me just a while ago."

Drew's face fell. "Did you tell her we hadn't slept together in forever? Did you tell her that you decided not to anymore?"

"I tried everything," Jason said solemnly. "She wouldn't listen to me. She didn't even care what I had to say. The worst part is that she took it personally. She thought it was because she wasn't enough for me."

Drew thought for a moment. "I don't mean to be insensitive, but isn't that the whole reason why people cheat?"

"Not for me. I was just kind of bored."

"Why were you bored?"

"What are you getting at?" Jason said, his voice gaining an angry edge.

"I'm just telling you to consider the situation. You say that the reason you cheated was that you were bored, not because Reyna wasn't enough. But if you were bored, wouldn't that mean Reyna wasn't entertaining you the way you wanted to be entertained?"

"I guess you're right. But there wasn't really anything wrong with her. I kind of felt like we were drifting apart for a while, but I never thought it would lead to this."

Drew placed her hand on Jason's shoulder. "It's going to be okay. She'll either come to her senses and get back with you, or you'll move on to bigger and better things. Think about it, Jason. You're the running back on the varsity team. You could have any girl you wanted."

"The girl I want right now doesn't want me."

Drew sighed. "Well, at least I tried." She began to get up and walk away.

"Wait," Jason said. "Don't go. Come back."

"Why?" She asked turning to face him. "You're horrible when you're like this."

"I want you," He said clearly.

"You what?"

"I want you. I can't have Reyna, but I can have you, and I think that might be better." He got up, slid his hands around her waist, and kissed her. Drew couldn't lie; the kiss was amazing.

"I'm just a rebound for you," she protested. "You don't really like this. You like the idea of this. You don't even really like me that much."

"No," Jason said, cupping her face in his hands. "I cheated on Reyna with you. Now, Reyna's out of the picture. We can finally be together."

"I…" Drew shook her head. "It just doesn't feel right."

"Just give it a little time," Jason told her. "It's right."

Later, as Drew lay next to him, his arm around her waist, her head on his chest, as much as she didn't want to admit it, everything felt very right.

* * *

Once everything had settled down, Dakota and Gwen decided to announce the winners of the costume contest.

"For singles," Gwen called, "We chose Bobby! His Batman costume is impeccable!" There was a kind round of applause as Bobby stood on a table and took a deep bow.

"And for the couples contest," Dakota yelled, "Jason and Piper!"

There was a collective gasp. Jason and Piper looked at each other, confused. Neither had entered as a couple. What did Dakota and Gwen assume?

"We didn't enter together!" Piper yelled to Dakota.

"I know. After Natalya got disqualified, we didn't have any couples entries, so we had to put you two together. Both of your costumes were good, and since there's Superman and Wonder Woman, we figured it was best."

"This has got to be some kind of joke," Nathan muttered angrily. There was a round of confused applause as Gwen passed out the money.

"I didn't know there was a prize," Piper thought aloud.

"It's usually $100 per winner, but this year they added an extra zero because it's Dakota and Gwen's last party." Nathan looked longingly at the stack of money in Piper's hand. "It would be amazing to have that kind of money."

"Take it," Piper said, without a second thought. "I don't need it. You have it."

Nathan furrowed his brow. "Are you sure?

"What am I going to do with it? You need it more than I do. I have more than enough money."

Nathan took it gratefully. As soon as the money touched his fingertips, ideas swirled in his brain about what he could do with it. He was going to buy Marin a new guitar and drum set, then he'd give his mom some money, take Piper out a few times, and stow a bit of it away for himself.

"Thank you," Nathan said. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

Piper just smiled. She was happy that she might have been able to redeem herself in Nathan's eyes. A thousand dollars was a small price to pay to keep Nathan in her life.


	19. Goodbye for now

Hello all! I have decided to discontinue this story, but fear not! There is a silver lining!

I went back through the story and decided that I wasn't a fan. Plus, I kind of ran out of ideas and I felt like the story was going nowhere. So, I've decided to revisit my initial idea and give it another go, but this time, I'm going to write the entire story and post chapters on a consistent schedule. I'll be working on different stories on this site while I'm working on that one, and Jupiter High will be back in a new and improved format. But for now, I bid you a farewell. I hope you stay and see what I continue to work on while I'm working on Jupiter High, and I'll leave this story up for your reading pleasure.


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